Election results

I know it was only a by-election, but Really???? only 9% of the Coquitlam residents could be bothered to get off their butts over a 2 week period and cast a ballot??  But the other 91% will sure complain when their taxes go up, or when some councillor oversteps their boundaries and demands a discount from their business.  THEN they will complain. 
What is wrong with the population that they think it is okay to not get involved, even in this small democratic process?  Were the polls too hard to get to?  Did you think there were issues? (There are, but they are Coquitlam-type issues such as 'why are the shoppers at Coquitlam Centre chasing a bear in the parking lot').
This is just sad.
PartyX has some good ideas but they aren't working completely because we are still not getting people interested.

PartyX talks about Voter apathy:

Discontent with Democracy

Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” The best of the worst may not be good enough, especially when there is a growing level of discontent with traditional political institutions.
It’s hard to have faith that our current models of democracy will be able to respond to the complex global challenges of environmental destruction, war and inequality; progress simply isn’t being made at the speed or efficiency necessary.
These are  the top five areas PartyX sees opportunity for improvement.

1) Voter Disengagement

Rates of public participation are falling in democracies around the world; there is widespread disengagement with the formal political process.

2) Polarization from Limited Options

When decisions are made by majority vote, the unequal distribution of satisfaction creates resistance to outcomes, instability and wasted effort. When there is a limited set of choices in a decision, there’s rarely an opportunity to develop positive compromises.

3) Limited Stakeholder Connectivity

With the infrequency of elections, politicians can too easily become disconnected from the distributed expertise and intelligence of the population they represent.

4) Susceptibility to Lobbyists

The centralization of decision-making power can allow for the disproportionate influence by professional lobbyists acting on behalf of special interests. This can be compounded by election finance rules, which creates reliance between politicians and organized interests.

5) Short-Term Horizon

The voting cycle of representative democracy creates a system that’s too focused on short-term planning; there is no inherent incentive to make long-term decisions that do not have a positive impact on politicians’ ability to get reelected. Meanwhile, new governments often spend a large part of their efforts undoing the work of prior governments that did the same thing.

 well good on you, 9%, for overcoming the above.  And for the rest of you, no griping, you had your chance.

Oh and congrats to Chris Wilson and Bonita Zarillo.  Looking forward to some good management in the Burquitlam area.