Why did I register as a Third Party Advertiser for this year’s Municipal Election?
It’s a great question.
An important question really.
Especially because I ethically and philosophically disagree with the notion of Third Party Advertisers engaging in our local democratic system, particularly when the influence is coming from outside our own municipality.
But it is a tool in the campaign toolbox and as the 2022 Municipal Election Day draws nearer, this campaign has seen a lot of ‘sound bites and sensationalism’ designed to manipulate the electorate and deflect us from what is truly important.
In campaigns of the past we had icons we could rely on like the late Bill Rea, the well-respected editor of the Caledon Citizen. A straight-shooter, old-school-style reporter, he could wade through the rhetoric to give us the straight goods. In fact, one of his editorials from the 2014 Municipal Election is as valuable today as it was when he penned it.
Be on your guard against false or slanted information that might be distributed in the dying days of the campaign… If the material contains charges against a candidate or group of candidates that makes your jaw drop, then work on the assumption that it’s garbage, because it probably is.
Sadly, we don’t have Bill to help us navigate this campaign and so I come back to the question at the beginning? Why did I register? And what does that mean?
Because if there is any legitimate effort to help separate fact from fiction, it’s the only tool in the toolbox.
And so I ask you. If something seems off to you, negative and exaggerated… then it likely is. If there is something that makes you go “hmmm,” take that sober second thought and think carefully. Question the motivation, and ask yourself, what do you want your Caledon to look like?
This is the Caledon where my husband–Caledon born and raised–and I are proud to have raised our family.
And the community where our family — like so many others — has lived, worked, played and volunteered our entire lives.
I’m Anne Thompson and I’m #CaledonProud… committed to separating fact from fiction.
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