Democracy is a relationship. Do your part

I know it’s hard to stay on top of your local politicians.

It keeps our newsroom busy enough, and we do it for a living.

But it’s important. A watchful eye on what your city or township councillors are doing on your behalf — how they are spending your money, how they are planning for the future, how they treat the powerful and the vulnerable when they ask for help — is part of the work of being one of the lucky citizens who lives in a democracy.

Democracy is not a right that’s handed to you on a platter. It’s a relationship, with the give and take that every relationship demands.

We get to decide how we are governed. But in return, we have to pay attention so that we know what we’re doing.

The explosion of social media in the last few years has made it both easier and harder to pay attention this time.

The easy part is that there is a whole lot more information.

In addition to profiles and news stories on traditional news media, you can peruse candidates’ Twitter feeds, websites and Facebook pages.

There are plenty of other websites, too, such as waterlooregionvotes.org, which links you to a huge variety of information sources. Here, with the click of a mouse, you can access answers to questionnaires from special interest groups, links to recordings of formal debates and a series of one-on-one interviews on Facebook called Tea with Hannah Marie.

The hard part is that there is a whole lot more information.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of messages, many of them selfserving. With so much of the information on social media controlled by the candidates themselves, one can get lost in a sea of photographs showing them hugging babies and schmoozing at festivals and events.

What you also need to know is how the incumbents have responded to the issues you care about, and what experience and outlook the new candidates bring to the table.

That information is out there, too, but you have to go looking for it in many places, including the databases of news media that you trust.

Even deciding on which news media outlet you trust can be a long and painstaking journey. It’s one best undertaken day by day, not in a rush once every four years.

The municipal elections may have the lowest turnout of all elections, but they are arguably the most important to your daily life. Mayors and councillors are the people who decide how often your sidewalks and streets are plowed and by whom; how high a highrise can be and where it should go; who gets access to public transit; and much more.

Far more than politicians that belong to parties at the provincial and federal levels, a municipal councillor’s mind can be changed by a powerful argument.

Make your choice today. Even if it’s just one vote for just one candidate that you really like.

It’s a small thing, yet also the most significant decision you can make.