The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Jonathon Naylor Editor Barely one in five voters bothered to cast ballots in last week's Creighton civic election, a worrying sign for Mayor Bruce Fidler. Of approximately 1,140 residents aged 18 and up, only 256 _ 22 per cent _ participated in the Oct. 24 election to choose a new town council. 'It is disappointing,' says Fidler, who was acclaimed to his fourth straight term as mayor. 'I'm glad those who came out did. We appreciate that and obviously they like to have a say in the community, but it would be nice to have more people turn out.' Fidler believes the cold, snowy weather was a 'big part' of the low turnout and agrees the lack of a mayoral race may have also played a small role. Still, he argues the mayor is just one of seven people at the council table, with six councillors also needed to guide the civic government. Fidler says Creighton is hardly alone with its low turnout, as the trend across Saskatchewan and beyond has seen fewer citizens participate in democracy. He says the town advertised the election and actively encouraged people to vote. It even made arrangements to provide transportation to and from the polls, set up at the Creighton Town Office. 'It's unfortunate, but what do you do?' says Fidler. 'I don't know. But it's an issue all over the place.' In terms of the substance of the election, Fidler admits he found it a 'little bit surprising' that nuclear waste storage did not appear to be much of an issue. In 2010, he and town council began learning about the potential of Creighton hosting an underground repository to store spent nuclear fuel rods. Last week marked the first civic election since the term 'nuclear waste' became part of the political discourse in the community of 1,500. Some expected the issue to produce an anti-nuclear challenger to Fidler, but none surfaced. But Fidler, who became an alderman in 1994 and mayor in 2003, admits he gave serious thought to retiring from civic politics. 'It was in my mind,' he says. 'I have been there 18 years now as an alderman and mayor, so yeah, I had to think about it fairly deeply.' What prompted him to run again, Fidler says, was his interest in the community and its future. Creighton does not have an official voter list, but the 2011 census indicated the town had 1,140 residents who were 17 or older. Those who were 17 would now be old enough to vote. Voter turnout in Denare Beach, which also lacks a voter list, was more than double that of Creighton at 52 per cent. Of about 500 voting-age residents, 258 _ 52 per cent _ cast ballots in an election where Mayor Carl Lentowicz, like his Creighton counterpart, was acclaimed. As reported Friday, the new Creighton Town Council consists of Darren Grant, Jeff Lane, Shirley Owen, Lorene Bonnett, Don Aasen and Neal Andrusiak. Forming the Denare Beach Village Council are Scott McCullum, Frank Wiegers, Karen Thomson, Joanne Burkholder, Davis McKay and Jean Champagne. In Flin Flon, 45 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in the most recent municipal election, held in 2010. While hardly impressive, that was an improvement over 2006, when turnout was 35 per cent.
