The Commander-in-Chief tried to divert my attention yesterday when she could see me boiling over about the hydro rates fiasco here in Ontario. Whenever I get upset about things here at home she advises me to call my American friend down in Florida. I had not talked to him since the big wind that went through there the other day and should have called to see how they were. They were okay. No Zika mosquitoes yet. But he was upset about the election, as those Americans are who follow politics down there. He was not happy with Ms Clinton calling him deplorable. I assured him she was talking about somebody else, probably Bill.
Even before Clinton and Trump have their first face-to-face debate my friend was looking for an alternative – to either one of the nominees. I could understand his quandary since it will be a word match between a person who has all the answers and a person who doesn’t even know the questions. The solution, I said, was to think about the Second in Command – the running mates of two contestants.
In the present scenario south of the border, either one of the two nominees could be impeached, imprisoned, investigated or totally disgraced even before the election in November. If not before the election, sometime shortly thereafter. So it becomes necessary to look at who would step into the oval office as a replacement.
Trump’s boy, Mike Pence, is every bit as keen as Donald on a lot of the Republican platform. Well, planks of a platform. And Tim Kaine is as safe a choice as the Democrats could make without completely breaking with the Bernie followers. So we left the conversation there, my friend saying he would get on his computer and try to find out more about Mike and Tim.
The idea of choosing the second in line is not new to American politics: in some States they vote for the running mate of governors. However choosing who will be the Vice-President is important in the US system. Once in a while a President dies in office and you need someone to step into the breech until the next election.
In our system, the party in power appoints the new leader although the Deputy leader might be the first choice. This may change if Justin and company figure out a new way for us to vote, but that may not happen.
If you recall our last municipal election one councillor made a point of wanting to become the Deputy Mayor. That idea was not new, as this has been thrashed about in previous municipal elections. Sometimes a mayor may have to step down for health reasons or even over a game of cards in a back room, but it does happen. In olden days, the term of council was short and this was not an issue because an election was always just around the corner. However with longer terms, it may be time to give this some serious thought.
Currently the deputy mayor is the councillor who has the most votes in the election. This is often the result of happenstance since most voters do not consider this when electing a council. However there may some merit in making the Deputy Mayor a separate position on the ballot.
Mayors do leave office for a variety of reasons. Now the decision of who replaces the mayor is left to the sitting council and normally it is the deputy mayor who moves into the chair. But is that what the electors would want? Had the electorate known, would they have voted differently?
Mayors, although they have only a single vote or a deciding vote, do carry a lot of influence with their council. They can come up with special projects they like and push them through using the office to gain consensus. Or squash ideas before they gain momentum. If the Deputy Mayor had some special standing on council he or she might be able to sway some decisions in a different direction. Take the decision to call in our Hydro utility debt. Surely some of our councillors must have realized what a silly idea that was. Perhaps a Deputy Mayor might have rallied some objection. Well, maybe not.
There, I’ve gone around in a circle again. I started out upset about hydro rates, was momentarily diverted by the American election but ended up fuming over hydro again. It is no wonder I’m Second in Command at our house.
