If you're a candidate in the Toronto municipal election, listen up! Here's how to optimize your chances of getting my vote:
Somewhere on your website, state explicitly and neutrally how exactly your platform differs from that of your opponents, and do this without dissing your opponents.
I'm neither particularly supportive of nor particularly opposed to my current city councillor. I agree with about half of what he does, and disagree with the other half. As a challenger, you could be better or you could be worse. However, both of your platforms sound pretty much the same right now, so that just isn't helpful to me at all. I don't feel that it's imperative to overthrow the incumbent, but none of you have shown me any particular reason why you deserve my vote over and above the other candidates.
Federal and provincial politics are party-based, so I can make my decisions based on the values demonstrated by each party. However, municipal candidates are not associated with any parties. You're just random individuals and, unless you're an incumbent, I have no basis on which to judge you except the information on your website. So tell me why you're different! I don't want to hear you defaming the other candidates, I can do that myself. I just want to know why your platform is better, what you have to offer me that the other guys don't. Then I can decide for myself whether that corresponds with my priorities or not. Don't be vague and indefinite in an attempt to not lose my vote. Be bold, be specific, tell me what you stand for!
Last time around, I was not able to vote for a city councillor because I could find no information on one of the two candidates' platforms. I would very much like to vote for a councillor this time around, but I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't see any difference between the platforms.
Any media people reading this? If so, I'd love to see a comparison of all the candidates' platforms that emphasizes the differences!
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