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.
This October, Flin Flon voters will head to the polls to elect a new school board. But not necessarily all voters. A provincial policy increases the likelihood that some trustees will earn a seat without any public input. It requires that all school divisions split their communities into at least two voter wards, with a set number of candidates then elected from each. This procedure might make sense for Winnipeg and Brandon. Instead of having a straight city-wide vote, different areas of the community and their diverse opinions are given more of a voice. But it's ridiculous to force ward voting on Flin Flon, a town of 6,000 people where a drive from one end to the other takes all of a few minutes. Nevertheless, the province unashamedly insisted all school divisions participate in this wonderful little experiment beginning in 2002. Flin Flon was partitioned, and three trustees were to be elected from the first ward and four from the second. In the first ward, four candidates ran for the three positions, meaning an actual election took place. But in the second ward, all four candidates were acclaimed to four-year terms. Four years of shaping our education system and, by extension, our children's future. True, even without the ward system, eight candidates and seven vacancies wouldn't have made for much of an election. It's quite possible a city-wide vote wouldn't have changed the makeup of the board at all. But at least all voters would have had a say. At least Flin Flon would know that it truly had the school board it wanted. Democracy would not have been subverted by bureaucrats in Winnipeg. In the nearly four years since that election, the Flin Flon School Board has repeatedly lobbied the province for an exemption to ward voting. Other small school divisions have also expressed concern. Yet whatever flicker of hope existed was snuffed out in 2004. In a letter to the Flin Flon board, Education Minister Peter Bjornson stated that the ward system would remain in place for all of Manitoba. The province did pledge to revisit the issue, but we all know what that usually means in government jargon. Mr. Bjornson added that the ward system provides greater "responsive representation" in larger school divisions. No argument there. Now if only his government would provide some "responsive representation" of its own to school divisions where the ward system is not only nonsensical, but detrimental. It's understandable that small communities aren't always going to get their way. Flin Flon is one Legislature seat out of 57. Our clout is limited. Often we just have to accept things we don't like. That's part of life. But when it comes to matters of democracy, of whether we are guaranteed to have the elected officials we choose, it's simply not good enough for the province to say, "Sorry, it's a done deal." This government prides itself on caring for the Manitoba that exists beyond Winnipeg and Brandon. If it is to be taken seriously on that claim, it must rid itself of this "one size fits all" approach to school board elections. Anything less is an insult to the cornerstone on which this country was built. Local Angle runs Fridays.
