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COLUMN: Slate of confusion

Six slates contesting an election is very confusing for voters, writes PAN columnist Frank Bucholtz
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It appears there is some attempt underway to consolidate slates, as at least six of them planned to run candidates for Surrey council in October.

Doug Elford, president of Surrey Community Alliance, which had five announced candidates for council and two for school board, has left SCA.

He will run for council with the slate being put together by former mayor Doug McCallum.

As Elford was among SCA’s most prominent candidates, due to his activism in the Newton community, this was a body blow to SCA. Campaign managers Gord Savard and Sharon Goldberg said in a release sent out Saturday that SCA is withdrawing from the race.

Imtiaz Popat, one of the council candidates, said “we are looking at other options to continue our campaign.” At this point, it isn’t clear if the six remaining candidates will run as independents, step out of race or find another slate.

The reality is that six slates contesting a municipal election in a city the size of Surrey is very confusing for voters. If each slate ran eight candidates for council, that would add up to 48 candidates, for starters – just for the eight councillor positions. That number would not include any independents.

It is quite likely that there will be more than 50 names on the ballot for council on October 20.

Having six slates also makes it very hard for each one to get its message out. To run in a city the size of Surrey and actually connect with voters, a large amount of money is needed to pay for targeted advertising, polling, signs and more. Savard and Goldberg said SCA was nowhere near the $30,000 in donations they felt was necessary.

Raising money is much harder in this election, as candidates and slates can’t accept donations from businesses or unions. It is very hard to get many individuals to contribute to municipal campaigns. Donations aren’t even tax-deductible, unlike donations to federal and provincial campaigns.

While the ruling Surrey First slate has some problems of its own, it has a huge fiscal advantage. Veteran councillor Tom Gill is running with three first-term councillors at this point in time.

Other Surrey First councillors – and former Surrey First councillors – are either retiring or running with a different slate. Bruce Hayne is running for mayor, with Barbara Steele running for council as part of a new group, Surrey Integrity Now.

Surrey First undoubtedly collected hundreds of thousands in donations before new campaign rules were enacted last year. In 2014, it spent more than $1 million on its campaign. Most of the money came from developers and other people in the real-estate business.

Name recognition is usually a powerful factor in winning a council seat. This is particularly true for councillor positions, as candidates for mayor get a lot of attention and have more name recognition. They also have many fewer opponents.

The moving and shaking in the backrooms in Surrey will continue over the next month or so, but by early September, voters should have some idea just how many candidates they will be choosing from.

Frank Bucholtz writes Wednesdays for Peace Arch News.

frank.bucholtz@gmail.com