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Back From the Election.... (12.02.05)
Well well, it’s great to be back on the page, and boy howdy do we have some spicy meatballs to digest. However, seeing as this is my inaugural column after running for council my first challenge is beating the ‘bitter barrier’. I’ve made a reputation for stating my views, but since putting my name on the line I’ve left myself open to the classic, “Oh, he’s just bitter because he didn’t get elected....”; au contraire mon frere. Running a campaign is an emotional rollercoaster you simply can’t appreciate until you’ve sat clutching the bar in the front row. For me the ride involved excitement, nervousness, joy, fear, trepidation, disappointment, anger, relief, and strangely enough, confidence.
Confidence in the fact that my voice is respected enough to be 37 votes away from a seat on Squamish council. That’s incredible, and I’m honoured for the support. Now if we could only get the other 56% of Squamish to vote we’d be laughing. Voter apathy has always been a sore point with me, and that will never change whether I’m on the ballot or not. I may have to acknowledge, but I will never accept the fact that while some realize the drastic implications of an election and respect all our veterans had to sacrifice to allow us the privilege of voting in a democracy, the vast majority of this community couldn’t care enough to take five minutes out of three years to cast a ballot. That’s embarrassing, and it hurts.
It appears there are three groups of voters: informed, angry and lazy. I’ve always been an advocate of getting the lazy informed, even though it’s much easier to get them angry. I did the best job I could running a clean campaign that respected the entire community and of that I will be forever proud. So when I return to my signature “do you believe what those idiots did!” column writing, (i.e. the yellow paper wasn’t democracy it was anonymous bullying, and that is unacceptable crap.) you can rest assured it’s not fueled by bitter but rather by the same passion that has kept me in Squamish for a decade and made me run for council.
I learned many things the last three years and the last
three months especially as my days were taken up reading the affordable
housing study, the growth management strategy, and the OCP revisions while
spending every evening during suppertime knocking on doors. (Thank you
to everyone for letting me interrupt dinner, especially my missus) The
information you can get by knocking on a thousand doors is astounding,
not to mention listening to district staff and attending every council
meeting. That’s an education I thank the entire community for and
I plan to put to good use.
So don’t you worry, I’m not done in this town by a long shot
and once again every second week you can turn here and be sure that I’m
sticking up for Squamish.
In the end, I’m not bitter… I’m better.
To my beautiful wife and daughter.
To my tremendous support team.
To all those who believed in me.
To the 4598 people who voted.
Thank you very much.
Bryan Raiser.
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