Friday, September 16, 2022

Scrap the Tax proponents celebrate the signatures, as all four Prince Rupert Mayoralty candidates sign on


The social media campaign to push forward the Scrap the Tax initiative has celebrated another step in their awareness program today, with Mayor Lee Brain using his Facebook stream to note the signing on to the petition for all four candidates for his job this October.

The call for more revenue from other sources to put towards civic spending, probably is a topic that would generate strong endorsement from anyone looking to take on the job of Mayor.  

Not to the mention the need not to be seen on the outside of the rising tide of populism that has been stoked by the last seven days of message making. 

The Mayor observing today of the "Breaking news" from the Scrap the Tax organizers, a short update that delivers their latest narrative to the ongoing information push that has rolled out over the last seven days since the petition initiative was launched.

"Nobody wants to see us pitted against one another in a small town as a result of a law passed in Victoria. While the candidates may disagree on the exact solution, all Prince Rupert mayoral candidates agree that there is a problem and have called on the BC Legislature to act. It's not about politics. It's about fairness."

The organizers have taken a page from the Mayor's eight years of using Facebook to develop his themes and to deliver his talking points on his previous programs and vision making;  in this instance featuring frequent notes of the progress and their call for the community to stand behind them as they take their initiative to the Province.

Something which more than likely left the candidates with no choice to sign on, even if they haven't actually said much about the issue so far in their own campaigns, other than to repeat the flow of information from the Mayor, Councillor Blair Mirau and from the campaign launch itself.

That commentary from the two departing civic officials, has at times been countered by similar message making from Prince Rupert Port Authority officials. 

Though their volume of response and information delivery has been sparse compared to the daily updates and ever exapnding theme development from the petition organizers.

It's probably a safe observation to suggest that most of us probably are not well versed in the minutia related to provincial tax provisions on industrial lands and revenue schedules towards municipal funding.

So what's probably required for residents to truly understand the issue, is for an independent study of the Port Tax Cap issue. 

Something that would offer up a thoughtful and well documented full review of the issues from the perspective of all the principles: The Port, Province and Municipal government.  

It could be a document that would be put together with recommendations towards a solution that might take on a different tone than the current model of information delivery as promoted in the current initiative.

A study such as that however, doesn't seem to fit into the current moment of political theatre and performance art that has taken hold of the Tax Cap issue.  

A topic which is taking on so much of the political oxygen at the moment, that it is framing the 2022 Council race as a dominant issue.

That's something that voters should be on guard for, while an important topic worthy of review, there are many, many other vital community issues that need some of that spotlight before the October 15th vote.

Hopefully some of those community concerns start to capture the imaginations and message making  of the four candidates for the top office in the city as the weeks move forward.

More notes on the 2022 Municipal election campaign can be reviewed here.

Included in the archive above are the social media links to those candidates who have developed some kind of public engagement process for the campaign. 

A few candidates are more engaged than others in campaign themes,  while other  have yet to be very visible on the campaign trail or to develop those important message making options of our new political era. 

In a period of time where Social Media has become the dominant political pulpit, it's an area where they can expand if they wish on the Port Cap Taxation themes and maybe even the other, more pressing concerns for the community.

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