What an election season it was.
I had people calling the Gazette office multiple times with backhanded compliments and bizarre accusations of favouritism, I had residents actually stopping by my house to talk, and I definitely had more than a few tense conversations with certain people about news stories Thomas and I had to write because it’s our job to do so.
And you know what?
I’m blown away by the amount of people who tried to shoot the messenger. Thomas and I did what we had to do all election, which was cover the breaking news whether it was good or bad, and we remained as neutral as possible.
We could have saved ourselves a ton of grief by choosing not to run mayor/councillor biographies in the paper or online on our website/Facebook, but we didn’t, because we believe in transparency and being accountable to our audience.
Anyways, I don’t want to feel like I’m giving a lecture here, so I’ll just move on and say a quick thank you to those who were actually supportive of The Gazette and the work we put in to help the community during election season.
With that said, what do you think about the election results? Are you happy with the communities’ choices?
I think it’s pretty interesting that we have three new mayors in the Tri-Port now.
Dennis Dugas won by a landslide in Port Hardy, Gaby Wickstrom pulled in 598 votes in Port McNeill, and Kevin Cameron defeated Dave Stewart by a little over 60 votes in Port Alice.
Pretty neat to see and I think there will definitely be change coming on the horizon, but what exactly are some things our readership would like us to investigate now that “silly season” (municipal election) is over?
Here’s my top three picks.
Will Port Hardy allow residents to ask questions at the end of council meetings?
Will Port McNeill release RCMP quarterly reports so the residents know about crime statistics in the town and surrounding areas?
Will Port Alice take a harder stance on Neucel Specialty Cellulose not paying its taxes?
These are all ideas off the top of my head that I’m interested in, but I want to hear what YOU are interested in, because, as we all know, The North Island Gazette is your local community newspaper and has been for 54 years now.
Email your suggestions to me at editor@northislandgazette.com and we will get the ball rolling.
I’m not playing around and neither is Thomas. We are more than ready and willing to come out swinging and dig up all the dirt and ask the hard questions that you want answers to.
Thanks for reading, I’ll be back next week with some thoughts on Hank Bood’s legacy as mayor on the North Island, it will definitely be one you won’t want to miss!