The Buzz from the 'Burbs

April 10, 2008 - Ed McHugh, Community Herald

THE DATE has been set, and the race is on. Thus far, there are two declared candidates.

On Saturday, May 3, the residents of Bedford will vote in their second byelection in the normal four-year municipal council term. At the time of writing, there were two announced candidates. Matthew Christie was the first to declare, followed shortly by Tim Outhit. Christie’s signs have been up for two weeks and Outhit’s signs have also been erected.

The cost of the byelection is in the vicinity of $32,000. Conversations with many residents of Bedford show there is a concern that this is a waste of their tax dollars. With a swearing-in ceremony on May 13, the term will be a short five months — including the traditionally low-activity period of July and August. The normal province-wide municipal elections will be held Saturday, Oct. 18.

As one of my neighbours said the other evening: "Couldn’t we have used that money to fix a few potholes around the city?"

The Municipal Elections Act states that a district can not be without an elected councillor longer than six months, but we have seen bigger political decisions made in this province. I did confer with city hall and was told the act is very firm on this point.
Add in the precarious nature of federal and provincial minority governments and who knows how many elections we may all see this year. In 2006, there were four elections in Bedford: federal and provincial elections and school board and municipal byelections. This year is likely to bring a similar number.

In 2004, Len Goucher won the Bedford municipal seat, then opted to run in the 2006 provincial election and won a seat. Gary Martin won the subsequent municipal byelection in August 2006. In February, Gary passed away after a lengthy and courageous battle against cancer. He was a very well-liked and respected citizen.

Let’s have a first glance at this. As I said in a previous column, former Bedford mayor Peter Christie (Matthew’s father) and a few other concerned Bedford residents recently started the Bedford Community Council Association. The essence of the first session was that Bedford has not done well under the municipal governments since the amalgamation into Halifax Regional Municipality.

Matthew is on the executive of that association. In his campaign material, Tim lists himself as a supporter of the association.

Using a very popular search engine, I did two separate searches combining the candidate’s name with the word "Bedford."

Obviously, for both, the search revealed their council announcement and the associated media coverage. For Christie, the previously noted committee was the "hit" turned up by this search engine. For Outhit, you get president of the Ridgevale Residents Association and president and CEO of novaknowledge.

Let’s turn to the candidates’ websites.

Matthew’s site (www.matthewchristieonline.com) says: "Christie has worked in the marine industry as a coach, yacht broker and consultant. Having been involved in politics throughout his life, he is currently working as the executive assistant to the Honourable Jamie Muir, minister of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations."

Tim’s site (www.bedfordleader.com) says he "is president & CEO of novaknowledge, a 15-year-old think-tank and economic research organization. . . . Prior to that, he was director of business development at InfoInterActive Inc; worldwide channels manager for Electronics Workbench; and vice-president of Quicklaw."

Matthew’s appointment as Mr. Muir’s EA was very recent. Tim has been at his current position for almost two years.

Tim’s site looks very attractive, but does not include a platform stating his views on local issues. Matthew’s site does have a platform for you to read and consider.

As this is a community paper, I phoned and e-mailed both candidates asking for community involvement profiles. I did not receive anything from the Christie camp by the deadline. The Outhit camp provided a list. The primary roles were the Ridgevale position and work with the All Women’s Empowerment and Development Association. As I was looking for volunteer activities, I did not list the activities that appeared to be related to paid employment.

It is now our duty to judge the track records and platforms of these people. It is also up to us to vote — either on May 3 or in the advance polls on April 26 and 29.

Whether you agree or not with holding this byelection is now a moot point. Please get out and vote.