Ballot blues

Pollsters are expecting very weak turnout at tomorrow's election, owing to the lacklustre campaign (equally the fault of a couple of ho-hum mayoral candidates and a lazy press). Unfortunately, I'll be among those not voting, not because I choose not to, but because I'm not registered. Basically, I changed my address after the registration deadline (which was in September), and am in electoral limbo: I can demonsrate my citizenship well enough, I'm listed in the Quebec election file, but I won't be able to speak my voice at a polling station tomorrow. It should be noted that the federal government will allow citizens to register up to the last minute; only the Province of Quebec won't tolerate "late" registration (the woman who explained it to me attributed the regulaiton to fraud prevention).

In any case, I'm still not entirely sure who should be the next mayor. Being disenfranchised hasn't exactly inspired any desire to compare election platforms and past records. The general shittiness of the campaign - and the media's inability to lift it out of the doldrums, partially by ignoring Projet Montreal's Richard Bergeron - makes you want to support the unconventional choice, i.e., the guy who hasn't been mayor. Then again, having looked at the PM platform, I'd be reluctant to cast my ballot for Bergeron.

That leaves Bourque and Tremblay. Tremblay seems to be a superwonk (not at all a bad thing) who can't seem to get a grip on the horrid crappiness that is municipal government in Quebec. While he's not impressive, he does have a grasp of the city's main challenges, if not an efficient way of overcoming them. Bourque helped validate the Parti Québecois agglomeration of the city with his endless "One Island, One City" blather. If only the results were disastrous; I'll leave it to the municipal policy experts to figure out if properly governing the greater Montreal region will ever be possible. Bourque also seems to be arrogant as hell, but you shouldn't really hold that kind of thing against a politician - the ones who seem humble may just be better at hiding their contempt for others.

So call it a very, very modest endorsement of Gerald Tremblay. Here's hoping yours truly is on the voter rolls come the next election. Lord knows the city won't be giving me a break on my property taxes.