I was at a public meeting which Mel Arnold, our Member of Parliament convened at the Schubert Centre. I found that some people just have difficulty being civil when they speak at these events.
They become argumentative and accusatory in a way which makes an informative discussion impossible.
I understand that people are passionate when they have an opportunity to speak in front of a large group of people about an issue that a great deal to them.
However, people tend to forget that the time that people have to speak is limited by how many people also want to speak, and the limit to which the politician at the podium is able to discuss something which is of little interest to hundreds of other people in the room.
I would hope that when the numerous candidate forums come around in the next seven weeks that people will be mindful that there are many others in the room who also came to discuss issues that are important to them, and allow those people a chance to speak to the candidates.
In the same way, heckling only serves to annoy the people around you, and, at the same time, creates a level of sympathy for the person being heckled.
It certainly doesn’t provide more allies for the person doing the heckling.
That being said, I look forward to seeing many of you as we ask the numerous candidates how they will make Vernon a better place for all of us if we vote for them.
Dean Roosevelt
