Saint John election generates interest, anger

Citizen journalists and bloggers in Saint John are predicting a major change in next weeks municipal election, based on the groundswell of interest and anger they're witnessing.

"I think this time around, all walks of life are feeling the pain that our city is going through," said citizen journalist Kim Cookson, who runs a blog called Trinity Today with her partner Herb Duncan.

"They've got to feel it in their purses. They've got to feel it in their transportation. They've got to feel it intimately," she said.

Duncan agrees.

He says they dont endorse any particular candidates, they just believe in a call to action.

"When do we get pissed off to the point where we say: We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore?"

Shawn Peterson, a young father working in the information technology sector, runs a blog called SaintJohnShawn, which connects with a younger audience.

Young people often don't bother to vote, but Peterson expects that could change on May 14.

"I think we've hit a point now with the amount of cuts and the types of cuts that are happening, you know, people are fed up and they want to see it fixed, once and for all," he said.

Peterson recently started a contest on his blog, inviting the public to predict the election results.

As ofMondaymorning, there were 47 responses.

Of those, there were43 picks for Mel Norton for mayor. There were novotes for incumbentIvan Court.