Candidates vying to be Halifax's next mayor combat apathy and lack of awareness

Candidates running to be Halifax's next mayor are fighting apathy and a lack of public engagement with municipal politics, experts and candidates say.

"I think that Haligonians, and probably a lot of Canadians generally, are checking out of local politics," said Alex Marland, a professor and political scientist at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.

"The irony of it is that municipal politics is actually becoming more important in people's lives as cities get bigger, as the tax base increases, as cities are asked to do more and more."

A poll conducted between Sept. 24 and Oct. 2 found that almost half of Halifax voters couldn't name a single candidate in Saturday's mayoral election.

The survey of 383 eligible Halifax voters conducted by Atlantic polling firm MQO Research found that 46 per cent of respondents either drew a blank or named someone not in the race — such as the premier or the outgoing mayor — when asked to identify candidates in the election.

'Fighting uphill,' says candidate

Waye Mason, a municipal councillor who is running for mayor, said in an interview Tuesday that awareness of the election seems low based on conversations he's having on people's doorsteps.

"You are fighting uphill. It is as much about telling people that there is an election, as it is about selling yourself as the candidate they should vote for," Mason said, adding that in recent days people's interest and awareness seems to have increased. But he senses candidates are "also fighting against a general apathy and anger, post-COVID, that I think is stronger than we've seen before."

Mayoral candidate and former Liberal MP Andy Fillmore agreed Tuesday that voters do not seem particularly tuned into the campaign, which he says could be tied to voter fatigue amid speculation about possible provincial and federal elections.

"This, along with the fact that there are 16 people on the ballot and multiple contested council races, may make it difficult to track who is championing what policy approaches," Fillmore said.

The former MP added that voters have told him they feel apathetic about municipal politics after having negative experiences when contacting council with concerns.

Lack of local journalism

Marland attributes the lack of knowledge and general apathy about the mayoral race to a decline in local journalism. The political scientist said that previously, prospective voters would get newspapers delivered and could easily tune in to what's going on locally "simply by fanning through the paper."

As local newsrooms shrink, Marland said many have turned their focus to news outside of Canada — particularly the ongoing U.S. election campaign.

Mason said he's noticed a significant decrease in news coverage of Halifax's municipal politics in the past few years. "We send out press releases and we go to debates, and there's very little or no media there," he said.

The councillor said during the mayoral election 12 years ago, "you would have cameras from every station, reporters from every outlet. And now it's rare to see anybody there from a major media outlet. I think that's really had an impact."

Without consistent media coverage, Marland said candidates are gravitating toward sharing their messages through social media, which may be effective at connecting with some voters — "but the reality is that the average person is probably not paying attention to that whatsoever."

Electing a new mayor

Lori Turnbull, a political scientist at Dalhousie University, said municipal contests tend to attract the least attention of any elections. She said this is due to the comparatively low media coverage and lack of involvement from political parties, which put great effort into advertising their candidates and campaign promises.

What's different about this campaign, Turnbull said, is that Halifax will be electing a new mayor for the first time in more than a decade. Halifax Mayor Mike Savage announced in February he would not run again, and on Sunday he was appointed Nova Scotia's lieutenant-governor.

"It's been 12 years since there has really been any contest for who the mayor would be, so it's been a long time since anybody has been thinking it would be anybody other than Mike Savage," she said.

Polls show that the front-runners are Fillmore, Mason, and Coun. Pam Lovelace. The most recent poll, conducted Oct. 1-3 by Narrative Research for the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, found that 24 per cent of respondents favoured Fillmore, 19 per cent would vote for Mason and 12 per cent preferred Lovelace.

Of the 472 voting-age Halifax residents surveyed as part of an online panel, 32 per cent were undecided. Because the results come from a sample where residents have joined a panel to share their opinions, the polling firm does not apply a margin of error.

Younger voters tuned out

Peter Roth, a 29-year-old who lives in downtown Halifax, made a point of seeking out the candidates' platforms online. But they believe many in their age group may be tuned out of the election entirely.

"I think there's a small subset of people who are engaged but I don't think anyone's really excited about the vote, and I think people my age or a bit younger may not care," Roth said in an interview Monday.

Roth said this is a problem, because they are the ones most feeling the pinch from the lack of housing and the high cost of living. Younger Haligonians, they said, "are arguably the most dissatisfied with this city but the least excited about politics."