Editorials - April 18, 2025

While every election is important, the stakes riding on this federal election are especially high. Tariffs, the global economy, Trump, annexation threats - this list goes on. No federal election in our collective lifetimes has been as important to navigate and to try to understand.

 

Normally, voters can turn up at the polling station and mark their ballots with their X to voice their support for the candidate or the party that they think will do the best job representing their riding. The 2025 election has thrown a wrench into the works. The leadership of the country is a crucial element in Canada’s ability to play at a global level. Internally, we have issues to deal with, such as housing, energy, Indigenous relations, healthcare, and cost of living, but generally we enjoy one of the best standards of living in the world. Externally, we are at greater risk through no fault of our own, or any previous government. The choice is how to deal with these pressures going forward.

 

A quote from writer and activist Rebecca Solnit summed it up succinctly: “A vote is not a valentine, you aren’t confessing your love for the candidate. It’s a chess move for the world you want to live in.” – DS

Every election gets the “-gate” scandal it deserves. Here in Canada, in 2025, we have Buttongate. A pair of federal Liberal Party staffers have been excoriated by Prime Minister Mark Carney for planting buttons at an Ottawa conservative conference last week emblazoned with U.S. President Donald Trump-style slogans, such as “Stop the Steal” in an effort to smear the Conservatives and, in turn, accuse them of bringing American-style politics to this election. 

 

With Carney leading in polling, flipping the massive Conservative lead that existed before Trump took office, this is a tremendous unforced error by the party and, while Carney has denounced the work done here, he is no doubt going to hear about this petty scandal for the remaining weeks of his campaign, leading up to election night. And while Carney should be given some points for acknowledging the bad move and scolding those responsible, that really should be the bare minimum, though we all know that some other leaders might not have seen it that way or been so forthcoming had it been their party.

 

This election has real stakes attached to it and, for many, the choice has yet to be made. The dramatic swing of many to Carney from Pierre Poilievre shows that the votes of many can be swayed, one way or another, pretty easily in this election. Petty games and unsophisticated, childish antics such as planting buttons just serve to undermine the integrity of the election and sow distrust and confusion at a time when that’s the last thing the country needs. 

 

Canadians are smarter than that and they are above these kinds of cheap tricks. Let the party leaders and potential MPs do the work at all-candidates meetings and on voters’ doorsteps. Don’t cloud the issue, unnecessarily, with something out of a bad student council election depicted in a third-rate sitcom. – SL 

Municipal government isn’t perfect, but it is local. Councillors live in the communities they serve. While many decisions happen behind closed doors, there remains a basic expectation that elected representatives are accountable to the people who put them there. That is why Ontario’s new “strong mayor” powers should concern us all, and why every mayor in Huron County should reject them. The province claims these powers are necessary to speed up housing development, but in Huron County, councils are not standing in the way of growth. They are actively encouraging it. New subdivisions, industrial expansions and severances are regularly approved to strengthen tax bases. The notion that local councils are blocking progress does not reflect the facts.

 

What these powers actually do is weaken democracy. They allow mayors to sideline the very councils they were elected to lead. In North Huron, for example, a future reeve could unilaterally cancel the long-standing arrangement with the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association and redevelop the campground land. This could happen even if council opposed the move and the public spoke out against it. These are the kinds of decisions that strong mayor powers make possible.

 

Yes, Ontario needs more housing. But this problem will not be solved by cutting local voices out of the conversation. The causes of the housing crisis are complex: interest rates, rising construction costs, land speculation, and decades of provincial and federal inaction on affordable housing. Local councils, especially rural ones, have limited influence over those forces. What they do have is a mandate to guide development responsibly, with community input.

 

Huron County mayors should lead by example and turn these newly-found powers down. Not because council is always right, but because no one in a democracy should have the final say alone. 

 

Elected together, councils should govern together. – SBS