The word mandate, at least as it applies to politics, was redefined in Whistler Saturday. Every winner in every election likes to say the people have given them a mandate, the authority to implement their policies, vision and goals for the constituents who elected them.
Steven Harper said he was delivered a mandate to govern Canada when his Conservatives won the general election in May of this year. The Tories took 167 (54 per cent) of the seats in Parliament. In Canada's first past the post election system, they won that majority with just under 40 per cent of the popular vote. Stevie's mandate is one in name only yet, because his MPs can outvote all the other parties combined, they can - and are - ramming through legislation that will probably change the very nature of this country.
By contrast, Whistler's first XX mayor, Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, garnered two out of every three votes Whistleratics cast for mayor of Tiny Town. Her margin of victory was greater than four-to-one and five-to-one over her next two closest opponents. Her 2,636 votes were a better than a two-to-one margin over all the other votes cast for all the other candidates combined.
Now that's a mandate.
But what is it a mandate to do? In municipal government, the mayor only gets one vote. The vote of each of the six candidates who won council seats weighs the same as hers. There are no party politics at this level of government in this town, something for which we should all be grateful. Her effectiveness will, in the first instance, be defined by the extent to which she can get half or more of the new council to agree to implement any elements of the platform she defined in her campaign.
It will also depend on the extent to which she and council, working with the new CAO, can get senior levels of municipal staff to effectively implement those programs once they're voted on by a majority of council.
In the real world - unlike the hypothetical world described recently by our outgoing mayor - people are people and motivating them to do what you'd like them to do isn't quite so black and white as council sets policy, staff implements policy. If life were so tidy and leadership so easy, none of us would ever receive bad service in stores and restaurants, never be ignored by staff more interested in whatever fascinating information was dancing across their smart phone screen than our inability to find what we were looking for, and never have to take something back twice because it wasn't fixed right the first time.
But real life isn't that easy. I know. I beat my head against a very hard wall for several years at Canada's largest financial institution trying to help very senior executives implement strategic planning. The bank's CEO was a champion of strategic planning; so was the President. The next tier down, the guys who ran the show around the world, weren't so keen. It took years to get them to even begin approximating strategic decision-making.
So don't ever kid yourself that motivating people and getting the results you want is as simple as setting clear policy. It isn't.
But change is what needs to be done. That's what 68 per cent of the people who voted for mayor voted for. The choice was clear: stay on the path we've been on, doing business the way we've done business or forge a new path and find a new way to do things.
The candidates heard the message. The townies heard the magnitude of the message they sent, taking the unprecedented step of not returning a single incumbent. Now it's time to see if senior municipal staff and managers heard the message and will rise to the challenge.
It's not going to be easy. The new mayor has laid out an aggressive, aspirational platform. No property tax increases and no pay parking except in Lot 1 - arguably the most attractive planks for so many voters - will, if nothing is done, blow a big hole in the budget. The only way they can be paid for is to find things to cut out of the budget. The hope is those savings will be found by subjecting the budget to a zero-based approach.
Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) was the flavour of the day in management circles in the 1970s. It wasn't long before most companies abandoned it. The ones who stuck with it did so because it met their goals and expectations and made them more profitable and efficient. They were a minority.
The others found it too cumbersome, too time-consuming, too expensive or too ineffective. The root of many of their failings could be traced to staff that were insufficiently trained and mentored in the process and/or staff who openly sabotaged the effort.
ZBB differs from traditional budgeting in several ways, but perhaps the most crucial way is that it isn't just a numbers exercise - it's a strategic one. It not only asks what functions have to be done and what do they cost, it requires managers to rank-order or prioritize between them and within them. It requires hard choices and careful analysis, putting it in stark contrast to tradition budgeting that often comes down to taking last year's budget and adding x-per cent to it for next year.
So, in many ways, it's a leap of faith. Enough voters had faith that several million dollars could be found in a $77 million dollar budget that could be better deployed. Our departing mayor did not. Only time will tell who was right but the outcome may well hinge on whether the effort is given a real test or whether those charged with implementing it simply go through the motions.
I believe the people who make muni hall run can and will rise to the challenge. Why not? Most people in this town love a challenge and most play to win. I hold my friends at the hall in no less esteem. I'm certain they can accomplish this if they choose to do so.
I have to say I'm shocked and a little sorry this election resulted in a clean sweep. There were councillors seeking re-election who busted their butts and did good work. They may have deserved another term but, then, nobody really deserves anything in politics - they win it. They were, in a real sense, victims of the widespread discontent with the tone of politics set by the people at the top, which was ultimately what the voters rebelled against.
To the winners, you've got a big job ahead of you. You bring a depth of experience rarely seen in municipal politics. Now let's see if you can work together to reward the voter's faith in your ability to bring about change.
We'll be watching.
