Personally, I always think it's a good idea to keep track of what candidates said during the election.  To make this easy for you, the amazing and talented Ann Dahlberg Toohey has archived my election home page at this link:

http://www.lataylor.com/campaign.htm

It was an exciting election, and a busy week followed.  I'm overdue to sit down and say some thank yous!

First and always, thank you to my family, near and far, for love and laughter as the campaign unfolded.  Thank you to the generous friends who proudly supported my newspaper ads with their donations and (most importantly) their printed names.  Thank you to all the folks at the doors who received me so kindly and politely, often in the middle of their dinners.  Thanks to the friends and neighbours who said encouraging things when they phoned or ran into me during the campaign, and to everyone who celebrated with us here at home on election night. 

And, of course, a huge thank you to the voters who entrusted me with their support -- I promise you that I will work hard to support the values and ideas we discussed during the election.

I will be sworn in on Monday, and I look forward to my first council meeting on Monday afternoon.

I spent my last campaigning day making reminder phone calls, sending emails, and going door to door close to home, on Buffalo, Grizzly, St Julien and Wolverine.

I kept my home turf for the last day on purpose -- not because I'm too tired to walk farther afield (although I am pretty tired!), but because I knew it would be a lovely time visiting with neighbours and friends, and that was my ideal way to finish off.  I had some discussions on debt, rec centre and environmental issues, but I have to admit that most of the conversations today were centred on the glorious weather, how people's families are doing, what an interesting slate of candidates we have, and many kind good wishes for tomorrow.  

By my count, I have knocked on 923 doors since nomination day.  I have enjoyed it so much, and I feel as if the door-to-door effort has led me to people and corners of town that I haven't seen for awhile.  The paperless campaign idea has been interesting -- I've had lots of positive comments about it, and many people have said they really preferred not to receive paper, yet traffic on the website has not been high.  It appears that most people are reading all the newspaper coverage very closely, and that seems to be the source of many decisions.  A lot of people are also getting together with friends and family and having discussions about the issues and how to vote.

So, in the end, technological advances notwithstanding, I believe that this election will be decided in the same way that most small town elections are decided -- by face-to-face discussions and interactions, and by the same caring connections among people that are such an integral part of the spirit of Banff.

Yesterday was an extremely busy day. 

We had a morning candidates forum at the high school -- kudos to candidate Erich Mende and new socials teacher Mr. Skinner for organizing this.  The students were extremely well-prepared with thought-provoking questions.   As always when I am at BCHS, I was impressed with the attentiveness and courtesy of the students.  I have spoken at other high schools, and I know that the atmosphere at BCHS is something special.

After a few hours of my normal work (with a pleasant break chatting with Stavros Karlos, as he was door-knocking on Grizzly), I went door-knocking on Muskrat Street.  Lots of people were home and I had some great discussions focussing on affordable housing, the rec centre, and even the interesting joys and perils of re-visiting an earlier career. 

One householder made the very good point that affordable housing is even more of an issue for single people who wish to remain in Banff throughout their careers and then retire here.    She pointed out that ownership of even a small apartment-style condo is challenging with one income, and felt that the Housing Corp has concentrated on families, to the exclusion of the large group of singles and childless couples who make Banff home.  This is a point related to a discussion at the Forum, so it's definitely coming from more than one source, and we have to incorporate this viewpoint into our thinking about the future. 

I also had a discussion with another householder about potential barriers in the development process to the creation of affordable housing by private developers, and also about the astonishing lack of maintenance and upkeep on some of the rental properties -- something that I have certainly observed firsthand and up close over the past few weeks.

A really original idea that I heard yesterday was the idea of "community bonds" -- borrowing by the municipality from its own citizens, to be paid back with interest.  Of course I'm familiar with federal government bonds, and I knew that big cities have issued bonds, but I had never thought of it in conjunction with Banff.  I love the idea of people being able to invest in their community.

I had 10 minutes to get changed after door-knocking and I was off to the HooDoo Lounge for the candidates' meet-and-greet.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to discuss the proposed parkade, the pedestrian bridge, my paperless campaign, LEEDS building standards, tourism marketing and the visitor experience with the folks who turned out.  Huge kudos to Jeff Hines and Mike Mendelman for their hospitality and their commitment to encouraging the younger voters.

Had a super time on Otter Street last evening, including impassioned conversations about the rec centre, noise issues, and minimizing borrowing.  I visited with two incumbents, and one previous candidate -- it's always nice to chat with people who have actually experienced a campaign first-hand.