When it comes to generating interest in municipal elections, political activist Dave Meslin has proven all it really takes is effective marketing and communication.
Four years from launching the Grey Highlands Municipal League, a grassroots volunteer organization designed to boost numbers during the township’s 2022 election – which he achieved with record results – Meslin will be in Haliburton County next week to explain how he helped double the number of candidates seeking nomination.
“Leading up to all provincial and federal elections, party associations or electoral district associations go out and scout, recruit and nominate a candidate. That’s built into the system at those two levels… but there’s absolutely nobody doing that at the municipal level,” Meslin said.
After years of activism in Toronto, where he successfully lobbied Queens Park to allow municipalities to use ranked ballots, achieved in London in 2018 before premier Doug Ford outlawed them again in 2020; and founding initiatives like City Idol, a 2016 contest aiming to find 100 candidates for election in the GTA (they found 70), Meslin turned his attention to rural politics before the 2022 election.
Now based in Eugenia, a hamlet in Grey Highlands, Meslin was perturbed by the municipality’s poor showing in the 2018 election, where there were 12 people vying for seven positions.
“I put together the equivalent of an electoral district association, and we actively recruited members from the community to run. It was very successful. While there were a record number of acclamations across Ontario in 2022 (553), including more than 30 full councils, we almost doubled the number of candidates in our community (23 compared to 12),” Meslin said.
The key, he said, was promotion. Meslin’s team delivered coloured sheets containing information about the election process and details on each candidate to every household in Grey Highlands. They hosted public sessions over the summer leading up to the fall election.
While he and his team took on that work themselves, Meslin contends it should be the responsibility of municipal staff.
“Clerks will put a black and white ad in the paper telling people the nomination process will begin May 1, but there’s no information on what that means. It’s not promoted as a job opportunity people can apply for,” Meslin said. “I believe municipalities should be doing a much better job promoting councillor positions, what they pay, how people can apply.”
To fund this, Meslin believes townships should dedicate a portion of its annual budget towards election costs each year – and make it so that the current council has no say on what to do with those funds.
Generating interest
Asked about record-low turnout four years ago, averaged at 26.59 per cent across the County’s four townships, Meslin said it begins with education.
“Politics feels very distant for most people. So we need to create a culture of participation, where people are aware of what a council does. At the federal and provincial level, people have parties they can attach themselves to – and that’s why, I think, turnout is higher for those elections. People who don’t typically pay attention to local news won’t have any idea who is running in municipal elections, so it makes it hard for them to want to participate,” Meslin said.
“It’s a big leap for most people to go from zero civil literacy to voting or going one step further and putting their name on the ballot. That’s not going to happen in one step, but you might be able to encourage people to attend a meeting. Then, at that meeting, you can break everything down,” he added.
Meslin said anyone considering a run for local office should be preparing now – getting their policies in place, finding a campaign team and getting promotional materials such as a website, signs and pamphlets ready to go as soon as nominations open. “If you want to win and make a difference, you can’t wait until May or June to get started.”
He noted municipal politics plays a key role in everyone’s life today.
“Municipalities have had so much downloaded to them over the past 30-40 years… people aren’t just voting for stop signs and where to drop off their garbage anymore. Municipalities now help form health policies, they run daycares, operate old age homes and some do their own policing. All really important things that impact people every day,” Meslin said.
Coming to Haliburton Feb. 25, as part of a joint event hosted by the Telling Our Stories Speaker Series and Haliburton Highlands Healthy Democracy Project at the HHOA fish hatchery at 6712 Gelert Rd., Meslin said he’ll explain why public participation is power when it comes to local elections.
“If you care about how your community feels, how it operates, how neighbours treat each other, then getting involved in municipal politics is the best way to influence and shape your town,” he said.
