One of Derek’s friends jokingly calls me Your Worship.
He started this running gag that I was going to become London’s next Mayor. I don’t even remember how it began but it’s completely ludicrous because I would never, ever run for public office. And that’s one of the reasons he keeps the joke going.
Last night all 14 – yes 14 – of London’s mayoral candidates participated in a debate. There’s the longtime Mayor, aka the devil you know, who is confident, poised and has a husband who has had a few scrapes with the law including a DUI and other troublesome things. However she seems smart and knows what needs doing because she’s been doing it for many years.
There’s the former MP who used to own (and may still own) the townhouse complex on Wilkins in which I used to live. I didn’t care for him as a person but he might make a terrific mayor, who knows. There’s the white supremacist who says he’ll stop funding and support for any volunteer organizations because they mostly help non-whites. He hasn’t got a prayer of doing much more than grabbing headlines. And then there are 11 others in the mushy middle who have yet to break out of the pack, for good or for bad. One former councillor who’s running for the top job came to our door a couple of weeks ago and she was quite nice but she also struck me as a bit of an emotional wreck. (She’s likely over-tired from relentless campaigning. We are so tough on these people, truly.)
I would rather do the night shift riding shotgun on a garbage truck than run for public office. Every nutjob with an axe to grind comes out of the woodwork and criticizes you. Everything you’ve ever done is up for scrutiny and comment. It’s an awful job, it really is and thank goodness there are people who want to do it although I question their sanity. However, they’re still shiny and optimistic at the municipal level and I’d like to think that the taint of corruption is less likely here than once they get to Queen’s Park or Parliament Hill. Election date is October 25th but I’ll be casting my ballot during one of the advance polls, as usual. And I hope whomever gets the keys to the city doesn’t screw it up.