I had a chance to attend the open house of the Milton Toastmaster’s Club last night and it was quite a success. Not only were there lots of current members there, but also a large number of interested people, like myself, to see what it was all about.
It was a great event and it was capped off with a presentation by Gary Mull about how to be not just an acceptable speaker, but an exceptional speaker. As someone who is in the sales profession, I always keep my mind open to new ways to make presentations even if some of the ideas and skills I already have. The more you hear about them the more chance of you using them are. I like to call them the “a-ha” moments.
If you were ever curious on what the Milton Toastmasters are all about, I urge you to attend their meetings as a guest (every Tuesday night at the Royal Canadian Legion in Milton from 7:30pm to 9:30pm). You will be surprised to know who members of the Toastmasters were in the past.
While waiting for Gary to speak I had a chance to introduce myself to a few people there and some recognized that I was running for council. Inevitably the question comes up…which ward? I proceed to tell them Ward 6 and I’m usually met with a “huh-like” stare. For years Milton has been divided into 4 wards with two councillors in each ward representing them.
Recently the ward boundaries in Milton have been changed becoming effective for the 2010-2014 term of council. This isn’t the first time I have run into people not knowing where ward 6 or any ward for that matter. Outside the original news story about the changes, nothing has been said since about the changes by the Town of Milton. I think the Town of Milton staff needs to do a better job in educating voters on the changes as much as possible. Before you know it, election time will be here and people will be scrambling to figure out where they are and how to vote.
This past January a number of candidates, including yours truly, made the trek to Town Hall to file our nomination papers to become candidates in this election. So far there are close to 20 people who will be asking Milton voters for their support over the coming months to represent them around the council table.
In the past couple of weeks, I have also had a chance to take advantage of the nice weather and knock on a few doors in our ward to introduce/reintroduce myself as the candidate for the area. I was actually taken aback as to how many people remembered me from 2006 and even further still, how many people had my old magnet on their fridge almost 4 years later. If you’re a parent of a kid in school, magnets are a must. Stay tuned for that.
I also found most of the people I spoke with didn’t have a clue about the ward changes or which ward they lived in.
What ward do you live in? Do you even know that the wards were changed? Every one in town seems to know about the Milton Sports Centre expansion and the speedy design and construction of the arts & entertainment centre (that’s a discussion for another time) but hardly anyone knows what ward they live in or who their councillor is.
Part of the responsibility of the candidates for election is to educate the voters on where they live, which ward they will be voting in and (hopefully) garner their support and vote on Election Day.
I will be doing more entries as the days/weeks/months go on reminding people that things have changed for this election, thanks to the provincial government, which include a new date for the election.
October 25, 2010. Mark that date in your calendar, as I have of course, as the date for the next municipal election.
I am running for the local council position for Ward 6 which is encompassed by the following boundaries.
NORTH: DERRY ROAD
SOUTH: BRITANNIA ROAD
EAST: FOURTH LINE
WEST: THOMPSON ROAD
If you click here, you will see the map of Ward 6. If you live within this boundary, I am your candidate for council. There are other positions you can vote for (regional council, public/separate school board trustee, mayor, regional chair) but more on that later.
If you want to see the ward boundaries for the entire Town of Milton you can visit www.milton.ca and find out where you live, and which ward you live in.
I’ll see you at the doors!
***UPDATE*** Laura Steiner from the Halton Compass has a Milton oriented blog as well. She recently did a posting on the ward boundary changes thats a good read too. Thanks Laura!
http://miltonviews.blogspot.com/2010/03/follow-changing-ward-boundaries.html
Comments
7 Responses to “New ward system in Milton”
Didnt the town of Milton set aside some funds last budget for “education” about the upcoming election?
Voter turnout is rapidly going down and your post illustrates how much people dont know about whats going on. How do they expect people to come out and vote? Maybe thats the plan as some conspiracy theories say…who knows.
Thanks for the post Mike. I hope the town gets off their duff and realize theres more to running this town than building waste of tax payers money arts and entertainment centres. Oh ya you said thats for another time. HAHA.
Ive updated the post with another resource for people to use when getting information on Milton. This blog is written by local Miltonian Laura Steiner who writes for the Halton Compass and in this post she outlines the new ward boundaries and how the election will change in 2010. Great article.
Thanks Laura.
Thanks for the map Mike. I saw your post on the Villager as well. These arent some small changes that are being made…these are HUGE!
Our ward had low turnout last time and its generally going down every year. I dont know if the town cares how many people vote. The lower the better?
THERE HAS TO BE CHANGES MADE THIS TIME AROUND. THE OLD GUARD HAS TO GO. MIKE IS ONE OF THE FEW CANDIDATES WHO ARE TALKING COMMON SENSE.
ANOTHER GOOD SITE TO VISIT IS http://miltonvotes2010.blogspot.com
That site is almost unbearable to read. They seem to have a beef with anyone who is an incumbent.
And in their coffee poll they only have you as a WATCH? If anything Mike is the odds on favourite for Ward 6. Other races look interesting, especially Colin vs Jan, which I think is closer than it seems. Colin is great but Jan has a lot of support in rural Milton and shes been at many events in town. It will be close.
I have been a member of the Toastmasters for a few years and find it very helpful in business. I havent been to the one in Milton yet, as I travel to the Toronto area for my meetings.
Mike, ive seen you at meetings and during the last campaign. You dont need the Toastmasters 😉
Good luck with the campaign.
Thanks Brenda. No matter what kind of experience you have in public speaking (my experience in sales helps out a lot…beleive me) you can always use a little help here and there. Even the best public speakers say that they are always learning new things each time they get up to speak.
I appreciate your confidence 🙂
Thanks.
Mike