Rats bring election fever to Swift Current

The rats have really brought the candidates out of the woodwork in Swift Current.

Public interest is swelling in the Oct. 28 civic election, partly because of the city's high-profile summer infestation with Norway rats.

With three candidates for the vacant mayor's job and 13 people running for six city council seats, the election campaign in this city of 15,000 is the most hotly contested one in years.

Part of the reason is that since last May, city hall has been under the microscope for its handling of the rat infestation which garnered national media attention and grabbed local taxpayers' attention, too.

The local health region said some people reported being bitten in their beds.

Critics scampering for seats

Business operators said they were worried the infestation was hurting them financially and was giving their city a bad name.

Many were sharply critical of city hall for failing to address the rat problem sooner.

Now, some of those critics have decided to step up rather than turn tail, and run for a seat themselves

Don Robinson, for example, is a candidate for the mayor's chair.

He's never seen the city so interested in politics.

"You've got people actually talking," said Robinson.

"Every day you're talking to them. They want to talk about civic politics. I've been around in other civic elections and there was a lot of apathy. They didn't really care whoever gets in, that's okay. That's not the way this time."

The publiccan hear what all the candidates have to say Wednesday evening when an all-candidates forum is scheduled at Great Plains College at 7 pm.

The outsider Robinson is competing with incumbent councillors Stacey Ellertson and Jerrod Schafer for the mayor's chair. (Current Mayor Sandy Larson announced she would not seek re-election, citing a desire to spend more time with family).

Schafer was on the front lines of Swift Current's summer campaign against the rats and took the heat when people got upset.

Still, he views the public outcry as a positive.

'Democracy at its finest'

"I almost view it as a case of democracy at its finest. The citizens rose up and spoke out and they got the results they were looking for."

Now that passion has carried over into the campaign.

Robinson says some good has come from the rat problem.

"I can't remember the last time we had 13 candidates for councillor," he said. "That just doesn't happen.

"I think all of this has some good side effects. You get more people interested in civic politics. And there's not so much apathy out there this time. I think people are really taking an interest in what goes on."

A public outcry led the city to beef-up up its rat-control squad against the unprecedented infestation. Atits zenith last summer, nine pest-control officers from the province joined two already working for the city.

At one point Swift Current was putting 100 kilograms of poison rat bait per day at the city landfill, and the city spent at least $300,000 on the problem.