Have you ever considered running in a municipal election? Did you know that only about 25 per cent of us vote in Municipal elections in our region?
In Oshawa several candidates have already put their names forward for City Council positions. There are also around ten folks running for the Regional and City Council positions and there are already two mayoral candidates.
You better be quick as you have only until Sept. 10th to declare.
Many years ago I was elected a municipal councillor in the small community of Beeton. As a new resident I was furious that our water condition was such that any white fabrics we laundered came out with a rusty hew. How could this village council allow new homes to be built when their water system was so inadequate? So yes, I had an axe to grind.
With a small son, and another on the way, I was distressed that more often than not, his bath water had this yellow tinge.
I sent samples of this water to the then, Liberal Leader of the Opposition Stuart Smith in Queen's Park, and he brought the matter before the legislature holding up my water sample...so to speak. Thus began my nine-year political career, which ended when we moved to Oshawa.
I would not mind getting back into the political arena again except for one small factor. The mayoral candidates for Oshawa are allowed campaign expenses of $100,279.20. That is quite remarkable when the base salary for the mayor last year was $129,057. So let's rule out a run for the mayor unless many, many benefactors come my way, or I win the lottery.
Regional/city councillors can have nearly as much impact as the mayor don't you think? Much to my surprise, whether you run for the double position of regional and city councillor, or just the single position of city councillor you still can spend up to $97,779.20. All this to be paid a base salary of just over $80,000 for regional or city councillor or a paltry $50,000 for 'just' city councillor. Where do people come up with this kind of money?
I can imagine benefactors (well a few relatives and a few friends) coming forward to help fund my election expenses, but not to the levels reaching almost $1,000 let alone $100,000. 
So to compete how much of my own money would I have to contribute when the salary would be $50,000? Reminds me of when I announced my candidacy for Town Council in Beeton. I figured that $500 in election expenses would just about do it.

My fellow disgruntled new subdivision residents were good for most of those expenses. However a kindly developer offered to contribute $4,000 to my campaign. I found this overly generous since I had not even met the gentleman. I believe all the candidates turned down the generous offer...perhaps I was his last hope? Had I accepted his contribution would you ever think that I might owe him some consideration if his name ever came across my desk?
So as I lower my political aspirations for Oshawa, I discover that if I choose to run as a public school trustee, I could spend $80,179.95 on my campaign. Luckily I am a separate school supporter, however, and I would have to run for catholic school trustee where the campaign expenses cannot exceed $20,715.65. Do you, the reader, share the same conclusions I have reached? You have to be pretty rich or pretty popular to run for a political office in Oshawa, if you want to run a top -notch campaign.
Does money sway voters? Well sadly I think it contributes too much to the success of candidates.
If you have a lot of money, not only can you canvas all the homes in the city...and yes, in some elections, candidates have paid to have people knock on doors, but you can also send out more than one mailing and afford many more advertisements in the paper, on the radio and even on TV.
As I ponder my political aspirations, you can send your comments to BillFoxExpress@hotmail.com.