It’s a re-match of the 2018 mayoral campaign in St. Thomas, only this time around Heather Jackson is not the incumbent.
She filed her nomination papers on Aug. 19, the final day to do so, joining newcomer Gregg McCart in what became a last-minute three-horse race with Joe Preston seeking the nod for a second term.
Looking back at the 2018 race, Preston prevailed by 542 votes, quashing Jackon’s bid at a third term as mayor.
It’s not as if Jackson stepped away from the political spotlight, however.
She was the Liberal candidate for Elgin-Middlesex-London in this year’s June provincial election, finishing third to Conservative Rob Flack and the NDPs Andy Kroeker.
She polled 7,615 votes, almost double the number garnered by Liberal candidate Carlie Forsythe in the 2018 provincial vote.

In our conversation with Jackson this week, the obvious lead-off question was why not take the easier path and run for a councillor seat?
She admits it’s a good question.
“As I was canvassing in the spring, and talking to a lot of folks in the city, they expressed that if you aren’t successful as our MPP, please consider running again as mayor.
“I’ve had a lot of folks reach out to me after that and right up to the day I filed, which was the last day possible.
“It’s a huge decision because of a lot of other things going on in my personal life but we need somebody at the helm that cares about our community.
“And I just don’t see that and our community doesn’t see that.
“When I hear statements like well there are 40,000 people in this city that I need to worry about, why should I worry about the homeless?
“And, it’s not my problem and I can’t do anything.
“When we’re hearing those kind of things, that’s not a leader who cares about this community and wants to move things forward.
“I really felt it was important to step up and give people another option.”
Having previously served two terms as mayor of St. Thomas establishes her as a strong challenger, offers Jackson.
“A lot of people have said you were doing great things. We were working well with organizations and volunteer groups in the community. And that has kind of stopped.
“People want to be part of what is happening in the community and people don’t really know how to get involved.

“It’s about having someone at the helm who cares about our community and wants to see it continue to grow and flourish without leaving anyone behind.”

“They want somebody who has a track record of being able to bring people together to find solutions for the community.
“That is something I have done really well in the past and I have great relationships with all of our friends at the County of Elgin as well as the lower-tier municipalities as well as provincial and federal. I have lots of contacts there.
“It’s about having someone at the helm who cares about our community and wants to see it continue to grow and flourish without leaving anyone behind.”
One initiative Jackson is particularly proud of is establishing a community leaders cabinet in 2015.
“We were working together with organizations, non-profits and with the business community.
“I know our community and I know our agencies and I know how to bring people together.

“We have some incredible small businesses in our community located downtown and we should be supporting them. But you need to feel safe and right now, folks don’t feel that.”

“So, I would like to get back to that community leaders cabinet and get folks around the table again and start to resolve some of the issues in our community.”
That would include the state of the downtown because it has become so “in your face when you go down there,” stresses Jackson.
In campaigning door to door, Jackson says she hears from people who will not go downtown for various reasons.
“It’s wrong. We have some incredible small businesses in our community located downtown and we should be supporting them.
“But you need to feel safe and right now, folks don’t feel that.”
Specifically, with homeless individuals, Jackson is hearing from all corners of the city about what will happen to those people over the winter.
“So we don’t see people staying in someone’s backyard shed because it’s the only option available to them.
“Or they’re on the streets and they end up dying. We need to help people and find a way to house folks over the winter.”
Jackson stresses she is not just talking about people with mental health issues or drug addictions.
“We are also talking about people who work in our community who can’t afford to live here any longer.
“So when we talk about affordable housing, we need to remember that there is a whole spectrum of people on that list who can’t afford housing at all in our community.
“We need to take a serious look at how we’re building in this community . . . because people are being left behind.
“It’s time to stop and think about what we’re doing. We can’t keep doing things the way we’ve been doing it for decades.
“We know the project being created on Queen Street (the Indwell undertaking with 46 apartment units) means those who need supports will get those units, which is great.

“We really need to get our MPP up to speed. You know it was very blatantly obvious when they toured Minister Clark through The Inn that our MPP had no idea what’s going on in our community when it comes to homelessness and affordability.”

“But all those folks who are working, maybe working two or three jobs just trying to survive are not able to find a place to live.
“We need to do a lot better at what we’re providing in this community.”
Jackson stresses the need to work with neighbouring municipalities like Central Elgin and Southwold to address common issues.
“Instead of looking to buy 800 acres of industrial land, what we really need to be doing is working with our partners to look at residential growth for the entire area as well as industrial growth.
“And look at how we can accomplish those things together. We do need jobs in the region and whether they’re in Belmont or Southwold or wherever, people here in St. Thomas will benefit from that.
“But that doesn’t mean the city has to be the host for all of these or that the city has to control the land.”
Jackson referenced a media release issued by the province several weeks ago about funding for the city’s emergency shelter, funding delivered two years ago by then MPP Jeff Yurek.
“We really need to get our MPP (Rob Flack) up to speed. You know it was very blatantly obvious when they toured Minister Clark (Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing) through The Inn that our MPP had no idea what’s going on in our community when it comes to homelessness and affordability.

“It just boggles my mind that instead of this becoming a community conversation, a press release about money released two years ago is what they sent out.”

“When they are praising that the province gave the city the money to purchase the property and relocate The Inn to where it is, just weeks after Hilary Vaughan appeared as a deputation (to city council) on behalf of downtown business owners to say things are horrible and not going well because of where it is located.
“It just boggles my mind that they would even consider saying this is such a great thing and promoting it without looking at all the other issues that are happening in our community and fully understanding them.
“We should have been talking to the minister about here’s the issues that have been created because of this and because of COVID, pushing everything to the surface.
“It just boggles my mind that instead of this becoming a community conversation, a press release about money released two years ago is what they sent out.”
Jackson closed out the interview by stressing, “I’m a collaborative leader who believes that everyone deserves a fair shot at their best life and the only way we can do that is by working together.”

You can hear the interview here.

BALANCING RISKS AND BENEFITS

With the 2022 municipal election slated for Monday, it is worth re-running a pair of articles relevant to the vote. The first of these is a conversation late last year with Brian Lack, the founder of Simply Voting talking about electronic voting.

City council’s unanimous approval of a move to a paperless municipal vote in 2022 generated plenty of pushback, questions and conspiratorial warnings.
So, why not go right to the target of all this distrust and anger, Simply Voting Inc., and talk to the founder, Brian Lack?
It’s the firm that will undertake the electronic vote in the 2022 municipal vote in St. Thomas, as they did in a limited fashion in the 2018 municipal election.
We won’t hold the fact he is a Montreal Canadiens fan against him. He is an interesting and knowledgeable individual who is refreshingly forthright.
“I’m the first to admit there is no such thing as 100 per cent security. Nothing on the internet is 100 per cent secure, but we still use it.
“There are people who say we bank online so we should vote online. But actually, it’s not quite the same thing.
“In a way, there is probably more danger with voting online because if my back account is hacked and I’m missing a few hundred dollars, I’m going to know about it.
“If your vote is hacked, how does anybody know? It is not the same analogy.”
“But we have a lot of in-house expertise on security and we work with security companies and we’re following the best practices to make it as secure as possible.”
You start with what Lack refers to as a secure ballot box.
“You have to make sure it is one person, one vote. Each citizen is going to be mailed a voter information letter with a PIN. It’s up to St . Thomas but we suggest nine digits.
“It’s random and it’s also unique. No two electors in St. Thomas will have the same PIN. And that goes out in a security-lined envelope.”
In other words, you can’t hold the letter up to the light and read the PIN.
And the letter is protected by Canadian mail-tampering laws.
To log in to vote you also need a complete date of birth.
“The year of birth alone is not good enough,” stresses Lack.
“And once you log in to vote, every step along the way we’re checking are you logged in with a valid PIN. Are you on the list of eligible voters? Have you already voted?
“If you’ve already voted on some other device, you’re stopped in your tracks . . . it will say ‘Sorry, you have already voted.’
And there is a time-out default, which is determined by the municipality. You have a window of opportunity to vote or else the process times out.
“If you’ve logged in by eight o’clock at night on voting day you can continue. If you log in after that time you can’t vote.”

“The elections where we do choose to participate and where we do get contracts, are elections where we sleep well at night. It’s all about balancing risks and benefits.”

Key question. After the election, what happens to the data?
“It’s written in the Municipal Elections Act that all ballots and electoral information have to be destroyed within 120 days.”
That’s a safeguard in the event of a candidate challenge or a recount may be required.
“It’s also a safeguard in not leaving copies of sensitive information out there with vendors.”
All information on the company’s backup systems is likewise deleted and “we sign a certificate of destruction and hand it over to the municipal clerk.”
That data includes full name, date of birth, a physical address and a mailing address, which may be different and school board support.
“Those are the different pieces of information that we have. And of course, we have the vote.
“We provide the contents of the ballot box to the clerk at the end of the election. He or she could download it.
“When you vote on Simply Voting we cross your name off the list of electors and flag a record as having voted.”
And each vote is assigned a random receipt code which is typically four or five characters long.
“We don’t store the receipt code anywhere else. We don’t store that with your record so there is no way to cross-reference. So, we actually give the clerk a spreadsheet with each individual vote and the receipt code.
The voter will know their receipt code and they can go online punch in the receipt code and see whether or not a vote exists.
“The elections where we do choose to participate and where we do get contracts, are elections where we sleep well at night. It’s all about balancing risks and benefits.”
As for a potential system crash on election day, Lack explained the main voting system is in a data centre in Kelowna, B.C. And the backup is in Mississauga, and they are synchronized.
“Your vote is initially cast in Kelowna and in the same second it is added in Mississauga.”
If something happens out of Simply Voting’s control and takes down the data centre in Kelowna, data is redirected to the Mississauga servers in a matter of seconds.
“It’s a hot backup and it’s running. And that’s how we’re prepared for the worst.
“There’s an entire procedure manual that we provide to the clerk and they decide if they want to use it or scrap it or change it and we include suggested contingency plans.

“I’m not going to try to push internet voting as the next sliced bread. If used in the wrong place, it’s horrible for democracy.”

“But, it’s not our call, it’s really the municipality’s call.”
Lack is the first to admit internet voting should not be considered at the federal or even provincial level.
It does make sense, however, at the municipal level.
“Internet voting is convenient,” advises Lack. “It’s convenient for the voters, it’s convenient for the staff in St. Thomas. Counting gets done in an instant. There are benefits.
“But you have to use the right tool for the right job. There are times to use a screwdriver, there are times to use a hammer and there are times to use a drill.
“I’m not going to try to push internet voting as the next sliced bread. If used in the wrong place, it’s horrible for democracy.”

GOOD IDEAS AND NOT ABSURD PROMISES

The second revisit to an item dealing with municipal elections is harvested from an interview originally conducted in 2003 on what Charles Bens refers to as “quality voting.”
Back then members of council were referred to as aldermen and there were only seven elected as opposed to today’s eight councillors.

Prior to the 2003 municipal vote, this corner consulted the author of a citizen’s guide to electing better public officials who encourages voters to maximize the impact of their decision when they cast ballots on Oct. 25.
Charles Bens has consulted more than 200 public sector organizations in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Latin America, and he advocates a process he calls “quality voting.”
In the aldermanic race, voters can cast up to a maximum of seven votes, but Bens stresses there is no requirement to endorse seven candidates.
The goal, argues Bens, is to only support those candidates “who will make good decisions on behalf of the community.” If a voter feels they have accomplished that by supporting less than the maximum allowed seven candidates, then they should not feel obligated to cast the remainder of their votes.

“It’s always good to vote for someone who seems to have good ideas. Not someone who makes absurd promises like ‘I will not raise your taxes.’ Someone whose ideas can actually be implemented and help the community. Not just ideas that try to trick someone into voting for them.”

He said just filling up the ballot “can sometimes send irresponsible and unethical people to public office.”
Voters need to become familiar with the candidates and the issues beforehand reminds Bens.
“You can really sort it out quite simply by saying who are the most ethical people here. Who are the people I would trust to babysit my children and to invest my money? Those are the kind of people you want in public office.”
The ideal candidate, advises Bens, is someone who is amenable to working with others to try and get things done.
“It’s always good to vote for someone who seems to have good ideas. Not someone who makes absurd promises like ‘I will not raise your taxes.’ Someone whose ideas can actually be implemented and help the community. Not just ideas that try to trick someone into voting for them.”
Bens outlines 10 criteria to better gauge the merits of both incumbents and challengers.
These include leadership, communication and legislative skills, along with a determination that an individual is not a one-issue candidate.
Other factors include election behaviour, a vision for the community, personal attributes and the assurance a candidate is not making outrageous promises.
Bureaucratic aptitude and accountability round out Bens’ checklist.
“If people use common sense, those are the types of guidelines that have a better chance of putting people in who will learn on the job. Who will start to work together and who, if the administration is cooperating and giving them good information, will make some good decisions on behalf of the community.”
Just as valuable an insight as it was in 2003.

FOR THE CALENDAR

In partnership with Community Conversations, the St. Thomas Islamic Centre is hosting a free community open house in honour of Islamic History Month.
Islamic History Month was established to celebrate, inform, educate, and share Muslims’ rich heritage and contributions to society. Muslims have made significant contributions to the sciences, humanities, medicine, astronomy, and other disciplines that have greatly benefited human progress.
An open house is being held this afternoon at the St. Thomas Islamic Centre, 55 Southwick Street from 1 – 5 p.m.

 1:00 pm Doors open Call to Prayer, Cultural Bazaar open
 1:45 pm Prayer Time
 2:00 pm Speaker: Islam and Science
 2:30 pm Cultural Bazaar open
 3:30 pm Speaker: The life of the Prophet; how to lead a just life
 4:00 pm Cultural Bazaar open, food samples provided at this time
 5:00 pm Event ends

Community members are encouraged to drop in – all are welcome to attend specific parts of the event or to stay for the entire time to experience each unique offering. During the event, attendees are invited to enter the mosque to respectfully observe a prayer session and to learn about the contributions of Muslims from the two guest speakers.
In the recreation area, members of the Islamic Centre will showcase information about their countries of origin.
Attendees will learn about the diversity within Islam and how it is embedded in many cultures. In addition, attendees can get a hina (henna/mendhi) tattoo, sample some delicious foods and connect with people from this growing community.
Everyone is invited. Curiosity is encouraged.

Questions and comments may be emailed to City Scope

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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.