ELECTION AFTERMATH

December 3, 2000 on 10:04 am | In Miscellaneous Musings!, Deep River | Comments Off

                                                                                                             Dec. 03, 2000

ELECTION AFTERMATH

 
There were three different elections in November, which have a direct bearing on our lives.

 
The first election was for the most powerful man on the earth, the President of the U.S.A. The outcome is still mired in the court cases. The counting and recounting of dimpled, pregnant and hanging chads in Florida have not yet resulted in the decision. The stock market does not like uncertainties. The market is now showing accelerated signs of down trending which may have the direct effect on our well-being. Many of us who were thinking of retiring a bit early will now have to reassess the future.

 
The second election was at the Municipal level. In Deep River we had 13 candidates for 7 Councillor positions. The Town Council now does not have any Councillor who is currently working or even retired from AECL, the main employer for the residents of the Town. This is maturity!  The impact of this will need to be watched. Only time will tell!

 
I believe that the Town Council should establish an opportunity for the Town residents to have a say in any major decisions it makes. This citizen input is necessary from the inception of any ideas. I would like to submit to the new Council to open the Council proceedings (at half way time) for a 10-minute period to allow any citizens attending regular Council meetings to put forth their views on issues of concern. This would, I believe, encourage citizens to attend regular meetings as they can participate in the deliberations (albeit with proper decorum). These citizen input and views can then be deliberated in the next Council meetings (as part of a regular item on Council agenda – Citizens Input).

 
The third election that concerns us is the recent Federal Government election. All candidates of different parties were very supportive of the development of CNF at AECL.

This is the only unanimous statement I heard in the All Candidates meeting at the Mackenzie High School auditorium. Now that we have spoken and bucked the trend and elected our Member of Parliament, we need to hold our breath, wait and see, as to in which direction the wind is blowing (for funding of the CNF). I expect that the Federal Government will proceed to support the development of CNF for the advancement of Canadian research in nuclear science. If not then, we may have to continue coasting for many years to come.

 
Pravin Shah