Where are the candidates?

Dear Editor:

Let me get this out of the way right now: I have no issues with our current city council members. They are not the reason for this letter. It’s about the representation on the council itself that I wish to comment.

I found it somewhat disheartening that with three council member terms about to expire, their terms of office are being rolled over without an election because they were running unopposed. I don’t fault the process; it makes sense to me. After all, you can’t force citizens to run for office.

However, I also find it puzzling that in our very politically-motivated town, no other candidates ran for a council seat.  And it appears, unless I missed something, this whole process also passed us by without a single reader comment in the COURIER. While we possess political opinion aplenty in this town, it seems we lack political ambition. I would have expected more political discussion about this apparent non-event, the council roll-over.

Now to my real point. Claremont has a rich history of female council members who have made a real impact in our community, yet in the past four years I can think of only one woman who even attempted a run for a council seat.

Statistics would no doubt prove that women represent the majority population in this town and, so it follows, we need consider how more Xs and fewer Ys would likely strike a better balance regarding our council’s representation of the community in the future. Food for thought as we move towards the next election.     

Miles Bennett

Claremont