Spare a thought this summer for the fall elections

If summer’s the time to take a vacation from work, it’s no time to take a holiday from politics in this Ontario municipal election year.

The July 27 deadline for candidates to file their nomination papers is fast approaching, and after that the campaigns begin in earnest in the lead-up to the Oct. 22 vote.

Election day is not that far away, and considering that Waterloo Region voters have so many important choices to make — they’ll elect a regional chair, seven mayors, multiple regional, city and township councillors as well as school board trustees — the time to become democratically engaged is now.

It might even be time to step forward and run for one of these positions, and we would encourage the civicminded to consider making this brave commitment.

What’s coming is a pivotal election that will set the region’s future course and, for better or worse, affect the lives of its 600,000 citizens.

For the first time since 1985, someone new will hold the top job in local government — the job of Waterloo regional chair. Ken Seiling is retiring after 33 years in that position, where he accomplished so much and reshaped this community in so many ways.

The next regional chair will not only have to finish many of the jobs Seiling started but deal with new and crucial issues. It’s absolutely essential for this community to put the best person possible in that job.

For the regional government, priority No. 1 is ensuring the first phase of light rail transit is a go in Kitchener and Waterloo while pushing on to get the next phase underway in Cambridge. Despite an ongoing, even bitter, debate over where light rail should go through that city, a route must be finalized as soon as possible so work on Phase 2 can begin in the next decade.

With so much new development replacing low-cost housing in city cores, there’s an urgent need for more affordable housing and more supportive housing — subsidized accommodation that offers social and even medical assistance. Both the region and city governments have a role to play here.

At the same time, there’s broad agreement that local government action is needed to end the crisis of opioid abuse, which claimed 85 lives in this region in 2017. One solution is opening supervised injection sites where drug users can safely and legally use an illicit drug but also get help in breaking their addiction.

But many neighbourhoods don’t want one of these controversial sites and the region will have to work with sometimes skeptical city politicians to get these facilities up and running.

The cities of course face unique challenges: Clearing snow from sidewalks and streets are contentious issues in Kitchener and Waterloo respectively. Cambridge is still trying to chart a way forward for the sports multiplex project it’s been talking about, and often quarrelling about, for years.

In addition, each city needs to find ways to ensure that the highrise intensification transforming urban cores is more compatible with the older neighbourhoods already there.

One of the unknown factors facing whoever is elected on Oct. 22 will be Ontario’s new premier, Doug Ford, and his new Progressive Conservative government.

Will Ford slash funding for affordable housing, daycare, public health and public transit? What if he does?

The politicians elected this fall need contingency plans. And they’ll need to talk honestly about taxes.

It’s fine, to be sure, to take a break in the summer. But all too soon the autumn — and its municipal elections — will be here.