Eve of the election

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.