With my column falling on Halloween this year — just days before we go to the municipal polls — I thought about writing a darkly ironic opinion piece. After all, the built-in metaphors are there for the taking: political masks, electoral promises as trick-or-treat goody bags, the spine-chilling horror of hearing the same rehashed ideas every four years, not to mention the hair-raising tales of higher taxes, multiplying construction cones and an increasingly empty downtown core.

(For the record, I walked downtown last weekend and it was packed. I’m starting to suspect the only people who insist it’s abandoned are those who never go.)

In the end, I ultimately decided against the Halloween theme. Too much is at stake to be cavalier about this election.

What I did do, however, was vote last

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