Kudos to Kris Schimmel. If not for him, yet another position in Ottawa’s upcoming elections would have gone uncontested.
Thanks to Schimmel’s last-minute entry into the race to oppose incumbent Elisabeth Arnold, the citizens of Somerset ward will have a chance to actually elect their city councillor on Nov. 10.
But how much of a race is it really?
Schimmel is a 23-year-old university student and a newcomer to civic politics. Certainly it is heartening to see a more youthful perspective in the political arena; young people often bring that little extra enthusiasm to a new venture. Schimmel is to be commended for his efforts: it’s always good to have competition.
But Schimmel is running against an experienced city councillor who has consistently stood up for the Centretown community. There is simply no substitute for that kind of experience.
Arnold demonstrated her commitment to the community earlier this year. When the NDP came a callin’ to recruit her to run federally, Arnold stuck with Centretown. During her first term, Arnold championed many different causes. She is part of the Neighborhood Alert Committee and chair of the Winter Sidewalk Safety Committee.
For the upcoming election, she has cited two major challenges that people in Centretown will face in the coming months — community issues such as housing and government downloading.
The latter issue is perhaps the most telling. Arnold has said she is worried about the survival of communities if the city is forced to make further budget cuts to cope with the downloading of services by the province. She says she will be the voice of the community when it comes to regional reform.
Schimmel, on the other hand, is not only Arnold’s ideological opposite, he is also virtually unknown. Running as a candidate for the Civic Action Party (another unknown), Schimmel is an active supporter of the Harris government and a big promoter of small businesses and entrepreneurs. As such, the likelihood of him standing up to the province on issues such as the downloading of services is almost nil.
This is not to say that Schimmel should not have bothered to run. He will no doubt attract his share of supporters, and rightly so.
But when it comes right down to it, Arnold’s experience and commitment make her the better candidate. She deserves to be re-elected. She’s earned the ward’s trust and confidence.
— Crystal Kingwell, Meranda Waters