The district
District map:
(Click here for a written description of district boundaries.)
Candidates
Sam Austin
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Email
Ken Bowman
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Email
Bryn Jones-Vaillancourt
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Email
Gloria McCluskey
Council report card
Website
Twitter
Facebook: None
Email
Sonya Dudka
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Email
Kate Watson
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Email
Bill Zebedee
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Email
20 questions from The Coast
Meet the human behind the politician: We sent the candidates a questionnaire, asking questions that are more personal than political. Here are their unedited answers:
Coast analysis
District 5 is the most exciting council race. Although former Dartmouth mayor McCluskey is the only sitting councillor running in the newly created district—an anticipated showdown with councillor Jim Smith fizzled when Smith decided not to re-offer—Zebedee, who has ties to the highly organized labour community that worked to get Jackie Barkhouse and Jennifer Watts elected in the last election, is a contender. Austin, Jones-Vaillancourt, Coast theatre critic Watson and Dudka are lesser known politically, but each has his or her strengths and all appear to have strong organizational bases. Bowman is something of a wild card; he’s not speaking publicly and we only know about his candidacy from his Facebook page. But don’t count anyone out, the race is wide open.
Return to VoteHRM page.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2012.
It looks like Jim Smith has dropped out of the race. This is disappointing as he was likely the strongest contender to beat Gloria. I respect Gloria for her years of service to the city but her shelf life has expired. Downtown Dartmouth does not need four years of Gloria ruling it like an angry dictator. Dartmouth needs new ideas and a fresh approach. It needs to welcome and encourage more development like Kings Warf. Downtown Dartmouth is ideally located to become a high density part of downtown Halifax. Being just a short eight minute ferry ride to downtown Halifax should have years ago made it the most desirable place to live in the city but because of bad choices and poor leadership it has languished instead of prospered. It’s time for the other candidates to step to the plate and be real contenders in this race. Four years of Gloria will be four more years of no action and little growth.
I’ll support Gloria if she maintains her support for a renewed biosolids spreading moratorium in our city
I think Gloria has been an excellent ambassador for Dartmouth. Has her time passed? Maybe – I think she’s a strong contender with many, however.
I’m just not sure of the remaining candidates who I will cast my vote for. I don’t think Sam Austin’s comment re: panhandling will help him get my vote. The reality is that sometimes people just need something to eat. Even if they are an addict.