Dear Bolton.....

"Make the best choice for you, your city, for us all" 
- Annette Groves

With less than two weeks to go until this municipal election, I wanted to take a minute to reach out to my friends, neighbours, colleagues, associates and residents, to encourage you to please make an effort to cast your votes.  I am making no bones about who I have decided to support here in Bolton.

I took the opening quote on this post directly off the landing page of Mrs. Groves website. When did Caledon become a city? I was pretty darned certain that Caledon was still a town, not a city, located in the Region of Peel.  Did anyone over on the Groves campaign team even take time to properly proof read this website?  Did they not realize this glaring error? Why am I so not surprised about this. Guess this is what you get when you buy a canned website and insert the boxes.  Want an arts centre in Bolton? Insert a box. Want a new sports facilities?  Insert a box. Want another 10,000 houses out on Coleraine Road instead of Canadian Tire?  Insert a REALLY big box.  Oh wait, that explains the vote for your city comment.
                                                                                   
I've listened to a lot of rhetoric from the wannabes about the need for change. Why can't candidates be honest and say "I have strong skills and I have a contribution to make."  Why does it always have to be about fixing broken things or things that aren't working? Before we know it candidates will be getting endorsements from Mike Holmes as the fix it up candidate.

Side note:  Just a small word of advice to Ward 5 Area candidate, Andrei Belooussov, if you want change, you might want to start by correcting the spelling of the word councillor on your webpage. How's that for change?

In the 2010 election, Ward 5 residents voted in two new councillors, so I'm thinking that as far as I'm concerned, Bolton doesn't need a change in this election.  Bolton made it very clear they wanted a council that would control the residential development in Bolton and that's what they got.  I believe that both Patti Foley & Rob Mezzapelli have served our community in a respectful and responsible manner. They have worked cohesively and they deserve to  be returned to those seats so that they can continue to serve the residents of Bolton.  Patti, in particular, has worked very hard at making sure she developed a constant stream of open communication with her constituents.  I for one, appreciated that effort.

I think about those 8 years preceding this term and I ask myself do we really want to return the toxicity and the anarchy that comes with the likes of Annette Groves and her ilk?  Was there ever a week when you'd pick up the local paper where you weren't reading about council that looked more like the Roman Senate in a Gladiator movie. What's your poison?  Hemlock or Purple Kool-Aid?  Either way, there's not much difference.  I say no thanks to the next four years being a worse version of that.

Interestingly, I heard from one of the Minions of the Purple Haze who told me "We need to get Annette back on council so she can get rid of that horrid Mayor Morrison and Annette can finally be mayor."  Great to know that her voters are so well informed as to the fact that Marolyn Morrison isn't even running in this election. It just boggles the mind.

That comment though did serve to remind me that we all know that our stale dated confectionary wants to be the mayor. Girlfriend hasn't even won the election yet and her Jimmy Jones followers are already mixing up a new batch of Kool Aid and talking about the mayor's seat.  Here's hoping the voters of Bolton put on their common sense caps when they vote, do the right thing and return Patti Foley to council.

As for supporting Rob Mezzapelli, I have maintained all along, that in my opinion, Rob is the smartest guy out there on that council bench.  What makes Rob so smart is his ability to genuinely listen to people when they are speaking.  It's a rare quality but he's got it in spades.  The other thing that struck me was a comment Rob made during the Chamber debate, when questioned about his decisions and the budget, he responded "Every day is budget day to me."  This is a person I want representing me at council.

Do we need a few changes on council?  Absolutely.  All due respect to Richard Whitehead, the community has been well served by his tenure but it's time to hang it up. Here's hoping that some of the young bloods like Jennifer Innis (running in Ward 3&4) and Joanna Downey (running in Ward 2) will collect enough votes to get their feet in the door and bring their energy and their smarts out to Old Church Road.  It is definitely time to build a succession plan for a couple of seats on this council.