It wasn’t anything close to a South American coup, but the way some people reacted to the idea that Mayor of Jasper should be appointed rather than elected, you could be forgiven for thinking that Jasper had suddenly become a banana republic.

The mayor of any town is seen as one of the most powerful people in the community. But here’s a secret: the mayor doesn’t really have any official special powers beyond a regular councillor. 

Yes, the mayor is seen as a figurehead for the community. He’s a symbol. Sure, the workload is harder, there’s more photo ops and interviews for the newspapers and because the mayor speaks the most at council, the power to set the terms of the debate is larger and if the mayor wants to talk about an issue, it’s going to be talked about.

But these are mostly powers of personality and public relations. There’s nothing in the mayor’s official tool-kit that allows him to force his will on a council and a town.

Just like any other councillors, the mayor’s vote still only counts as one. You could argue that the mayor controls the terms of the debate and hence, what gets done, but there’s not a lot from stopping a particularly ornery, loquacious, and persuasive councillor from bringing an issue to council and forcing a discussion. It’s called the power of argument or political force (it can be sophism or reasonable debate) and anyone can wield it.

Furthermore, it’s the town’s full-time staff who bring many of the issues council faces to the front. They’re the ones who work for the town fulltime and know what the major issues are. Yes, council makes decisions on what direction the town needs to go, but it’s the staff who bring the issues up. Determining what gets talked about is a pretty important. 

So by appointing the mayor, it’s not like council was floating the idea that they wanted to usurp the throne. The mayor doesn’t really operate a throne to begin with.

Add to this the fact that appointing the mayor isn’t really a horrible, tyrannical idea to begin with. The fact is that many municipalities around Alberta don’t directly elect their mayor or reeve and are still bastions of democracy. People still complain, council still listens, and decisions are sometimes changed on the basis of what the people want.

Councillor Gloria Kongsrud is right to worry. If there is an election without Mayor Richard Ireland, there’s a much greater likelihood that there could be a competitive election in Jasper. This means that a number of current councillors might run for the top spot. They can’t all win. In turn, council would lose some valuable, experienced voices on council because a person who runs for the mayor can’t also run for a councillors seat.

Why not?

Well, because the Municipal Governance Act says so, but again, why? Why can’t a ballot have two boxes on it? A person could run for mayor and for council. If they win both, then the council seat goes to the second place finisher. There’s no good reason from stopping this from happening. If this question can’t be reasonably answered, it was worthwhile looking at a mayor appointment system in much more depth. 

Would an appointed mayor lead to more backdoor politics? Would an appointed mayor be beholden to the councillors who voted him in? Would an appointed mayor be less likely to serve the interest of the people of Jasper?

Probably not, but these were questions that needed to be asked in a more formal setting. But instead, the debate about how Jasper should elect its leaders has been completely cut off. There will be no public hearing on the matter and no sustained, formal debate. The people of Jasper, apparently, did not want to have it. This is a shame.

DISCLAIMER: The Last Word is an opinion column. It is meant to provoke thought and debate. As such, any opinions written here are the writers own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Fitzhugh staff member or the directors of the Jasper Media Group Inc.