Welcome to Fernie’s harsh new reality, or is that Harsh’s new Fernie reality? (Sorry, couldn’t resist the wordplay and I promise that will be the last time … this week.)
Congratulations to Harshan Ramadass, the City of Fernie’s new mayor. Give Ramadass full credit for the win. He captured 56 per cent of the vote, not quite a landslide but a solid win nonetheless.
“Our community is ready to move forward,” he said election night. “You have chosen a future based on collaboration, accountability, and putting the interests of Fernie first.”
The challenge now is to put that into reality. His first job, the first job of any mayor, is to herd the cats that are his now councillors. Never an easy task, but it’s the one mayor’s sign up for.
The only real surprise, at least for me, was that Alleine Anselmo didn’t get in. Even though she was a fierce opponent of the firehall location, and that became a non-issue long before the election, I thought she would do better. Along with that, I didn’t think Josh Gawryluk would get in.
But, what do I know? I predicted the much-maligned Gang of Four would be back this fall. They’re all gone.
And that begs the questions: Will there be another Gang of Four and, if so, who will they be?
Personally, I hope there won’t be a Gang of Four. City councils are made up of individuals, not blocs. Each councillor should vote their conscience and for what they believe to be the best course of action at that time.
And we here in the community must remember that councillors vote after, hopefully, reading volumes of material on a most issues and listening to input from staff and the community. The social media marauders rarely do.
We elect and pay councillors, (not very much, by the way), to do the research into the issues of the day so we don’t have to. That doesn’t mean we can’t be critical of their decisions, but we should inform ourselves before beaking off.
Congratulations to all the members of the new council. Fernie has elected a good mix of candidates who have some challenging decisions ahead. Let’s all be nice to them … at least until Christmas.
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Didn’t turn my clock back an hour Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning unsure as to whether I slept in or got up early.
Truth is, I got up at the same time I always do. I get it that the new time zones can be confusing, but there is one point to make in all this: They day isn’t any shorter, or longer, because we set clocks. While we agonize over a manmade machination, the fact is the sun comes up, and sets, about the same time every day.
We can complain about driving to work or going to school in the dark, but if we had changed our clocks we would likely be complaining about driving home from work or school in the dark.
In this neck of the woods, at this time of year, we’re going to be doing one or the other.
Let’s all move on more important matters, like blaming city council for the shorter days.
Born and raised in Fernie, Bill Phillips is an award-winning journalist and columnist. He was the winner of the 2009 Best Editorial award at the British Columbia/Yukon Community Newspaper Association’s Ma Murray awards, in 2007 he won the association’s Best Columnist award. In 2004, he placed third in the Canadian Community Newspaper best columnist category and, in 2003, placed second. Read more Writer’s Block here.
