Municipal debate 2017

Bulletin Debate fills the cinema!

October 12’s municipal debate, organized by the Bulletin, saw a full Cinema Aylmer with 250 citizens -- including several children and babies getting their first taste of municipal politics. The stage was full as well, with five candidates for mayor and eleven for Aylmer’s three council seats. The event lasted three hours.

 

Daniel Lacasse, the Bulletin’s Director of Marketing, welcomed both voters and candidates and explained the rules of the evening; moderators Lily Ryan, publisher, and Didier Péries, editorialist, launched the questions. 

The debate was to cover three areas of discussion, municipal services, city communications with citizens, and fixing traffic congestion. Due to the number of speakers, responses were limited, followed by a ten-minute debate or exchange among the candidates. (See related articles for details in this edition as well as next week). Question two was withdrawn due to time constraints.

Again indicating Aylmer’s strong interest in the election issues, many voters lined up for the public question period, but not all were able to speak. Candidates for mayor began, especially on the contentious subject of municipal services in Aylmer, followed by those vying for council seats in Wards 1, 2, 3 and 4.  From brown water and arenas to STO bus service and tax increases, citizens had a clear choice.

Comments afterwards (see “Debate reactions” in this issue) indicate the evening was long “but necessary” to give all the candidates the face-to-face exposure needed. Several candidates also mentioned their pleasure with this opportunity to address such a large crowd of interested citizens.

“Keep sending us your questions!” Lily Ryan concluded, noting that the Bulletin will continue to publish as many questions as possible. 
(Trans: FR)