Crowded field in Rideau-Rockcliffe raises vote-splitting fears

With 17 candidates vying to replace former councillor Tobi Nussbaum in this month's Rideau-Rockcliffebyelection, the final decision could come down to a handful of ballots but at least they're keeping things interesting this time around, voters say.

Sixteenof the candidates attended a forum Tuesday night: Maurice Lamirandewas unable to be there due to illness, according to event organizers.

• 17 candidates on ballot in Rideau-Rockliffebyelection

The byelection was triggered by former councillorNussbaum's resignation when he became CEO of the National Capital Commission.

Advanced pollshappenthis Friday, April 5, and voting day is Monday, April 15.

Eloisa Martinez, who lives near Montfort Hospital, said she's pleased by thewide variety in candidates.

"I'd rather have this situation than the situation of the last election where you only had two candidates ... in terms of selection, of diversity in terms of viewpoints," she said.

"Although it's a bit taxing, it's more interesting."

The candidate forum took place atRockcliffePark Public School and was organized by local community associations.

The organizers allowed break-out sessionsforpeople tospeak directly with candidates. Theyraised issues such as traffic cutting through residential neighbourhoods,the proposal for another interprovincial bridge, and the handling of the Salvation Army shelteronMontreal Road.

Squeaker would be 'unfortunate'

Manor Park resident Eugenie Waters said the large slate of candidates has been somewhat overwhelming, and it could mean the winning candidate doesn't have a strong mandate from throughout the ward.

"That's unfortunate because there are some very capable candidates here and there's just too much vote-splitting," Waters said.

If, hypothetically, votes split evenly between the17 candidates, the winner would only need about sixper cent of the vote or little more than 530 votes, based on turnout in the ward during last year's municipal election.

While that kind of even split is unlikely, voter turnout is normally less during byelections than regular elections.

"There's many residents in this ward who are working multiple jobs, precarious employment, daycare commitments, many of those people don't have a bigopportunity to vote," Waters said.

"With such a small margin,a candidate could take the ward and become the councillor without really being a representative of everyone here."

In the 17-way race to replace former Orlans councillor Bob Monette, Matt Luloff won with 23.8 per cent of the vote or 3,622 ballotsonly about 260 more thanhis nearest competitor.

Rockcliffe Park resident Tim Moore said he would like to see an alternative to first-past-the-post in this situation.

"I'm very disappointedthat there are too many candidates and there isn't a double opportunity to choose a smaller number of them and then have them fight off against each other," Moore said.

The candidates on the ballot in Rideau-Rockcliffe are:

• Kasia Adamiec
• Idris Ben-Tahir
• Marc Dorgeville
• Bruce Faulkner
• Johan Hamels
• Peter Heyck
• Miklos Horvath
• Peter Karwacki
• Rawlson King
• Jerry Kovacs
• Jamie Kwong
• Maurice Lamirande
• Patrick Mayangi
• Oriana Ngabirano
• Chris Penton
• Sheila Perry
• Penny Thompson