Canada Lawn Signs – Customer Review

I haven’t blogged for sometime now. I took a very much needed break over Christmas, but now I need to get back at it. I’ll write more about my break and the envisioning I’ve been doing over the past few weeks, but for now, I just need to write!

While cleaning out my email in-box, I spotted a request for customer testimonials from the company that printed my campaign signs. As the testimonial started to creep up on 400 words, I thought to myself, “Why the heck don’t I just blog about this?” After all, what I have to say may be useful to more folks than just me.

This past fall, I ran in BC’s local government elections. This was the first time I’ve ever been involved with a political campaign. Since my campaign was 100% self-funded, and my budget was just $500.00, I had to make very cautious spending decisions. I decided to invest the bulk of my merger funds in professional signs.

I had left things a bit late, so I needed to get the signs printed quickly. I researched signage options available locally first because it’s always great to buy local and because I thought that they could produce the signs the fastest. When I found out just how long the process was going to take, I decided to look a bit farther, and I did some searching for Canadian political sign producers. At this point, I was still looking for plastic bag-type signs because I thought that they would be the least expensive option. When I discovered that I could get 100 corrugated plastic signs online for the same price (shipping included) as 50 plastic bag signs locally, the choice was obvious. I received quotes from two online printers (very promptly, I might add), one in Ontario and one in Manitoba. They were within $20 of one another, and I decided to go with the Manitoba producer, Canada Lawn Signs, because I thought that they could get it to me a little bit quicker and because their website was just so much more visually appealing. There’s something to be said about a clean, crisp website from a business offering marketing materials!

Staff member Rachel provided me with all the information I needed by email and telephone. I prepared the graphic myself and emailed it to Canada Lawn Signs at the end of the day on October 14th. My simple graphic was reproduced clearly, and the design helped to make them stand out at all times of day (even in the dark). A very few signs (maybe 5) must have been wet when they were stacked, so they stuck together, which created a bit of a problem with the image when I pulled them apart. This wasn’t an issue for me at all because all the signs were double-sided, but many locations where I was putting them up only needed a sign-sided sign, so I just turned the “bad” side to the back.

Tip: If you’re staking your signs in gravely or rocky areas (like the sides of the roads in Errington & Coombs), I highly recommend the single straight spikes for double-sided signs. They can be individually hammered into the ground (literally with a hammer). They’re versatile for uneven ground because you pound them in separately, and you can push your sign onto them all the way to down to the ground to create stability in windy areas. I found one of my opponent’s signs down, but I couldn’t put it back up for her because we couldn’t hammer the “H” style signpost back into the ground well enough because you need to hammer both stakes in at once. That said, for single-sided signs, I recommend wooden stakes, as they are VERY durable. A lot of my signs were vandalized/driven over, and some were dislodged from wind. If I ever run again, next time I would order more than 2 stakes / sign… perhaps 2.5 / sign. No one locally carried the stakes, and for some reason, we didn’t have enough of them for all the signs. I’m not sure if that’s because I was short-shipped stakes or if I was over-shipped signs, though. Also, hammering bent stakes into the ground is very difficult, so it is very useful to have extras on hand. I’d say that only a few of my stakes are still usable, but I still think that they’re more usable and versatile than the “H” style stakes and WAY better than plastic stakes, which are pretty useless in any terrain other than lawns.

If you’d like to take a look at some photos I took when we planted the first signs in the ground, you can check out my blog post here. Right now, my signs are just piled up outside of my house. I still haven’t decided if I’ll save them for some future run or if they’ll be used as roofing tiles for a loafing shed.

Skye Donald & Markus

Disclosure: I purchased goods from this company and donated those goods to my campaign. I was contacted by the company after our transaction and asked to provide comments or a testimonial. In exchange, the company offered an entry into a draw for future custom printing. Possible compensation had absolutely no influence whatsoever over the content of my review. I was not asked to post my review publically, nor was that a requirement of the draw.

Voter Turnout (or lack thereof)

Based on preliminary results, here’s the voter turn-out across the region:

13.3% Area A (Cassidy, Cedar, Yellowpoint, South Wellington)

18.5% Area G (French Creek, Dashwood, Englishman River)

22.3% Area E (Nanoose Bay)

20.8% Area F (Coombs, Hilliers, Errington, Whiskey Creek & Meadowood)

26.6% City of Nanaimo

34.9% City of Parksville

44.1% District of Lantzville

44.9% Area B (Gabriola, DeCourcy, Mudge Islands)

55.3% Town of Qualicum Beach

29.5% Preliminary results for the province-wide turnout in municipalities

42.8% Electoral areas of Cowichan Valley Regional District

61.0% Electoral areas of Central Coast Regional District

CivicInfo BC expects to have a province-wide turn out number for regional district electoral areas next week.

Do you care that the voter turnout in Area F was less than 21%? That in are A, it was less than 14%?! I care. I find it shocking, saddening and even a little disgusting. I expected that the anger over the building inspections would spur more people to get out and vote, and I thought that with four fresh, new candidates, all with different styles, there was enough selection for voters to choose from.

With the likelihood that our community will be voting on incorporation in the next 3-6 years, it is crucial that we find a way to get more people to participate. Incorporation as a district municipality would be a huge, huge change. I know we’ll be hearing about it more in the next few years. I cannot stress how important it will be that more people participate in the referendum process, should there be one (and their likely will be). The future of our community shouldn’t be decided by just 20% of the residents & owners.

Is the problem access or apathy? Access issues are the easiest to deal with, and I’ve listed a few suggestions below. Apathy, on the other hand, covers a wide range of problems, so it is harder to come up with solutions, except of course making voting mandatory by law, as it is in Australia (something I’m not a fan of). There are potential voters that don’t vote because they feel helpless; no matter how they vote, things won’t get any better. Then there are those that are simply uneducated and can’t be bothered to get informed. I find it difficult to believe that anyone in our community didn’t know there was an election coming up – the signs everywhere certainly indicated that one was going to be held. Information was available in all forms of media – flyers in the mail, newspaper stories, and on the Internet. They may not have known what day or where to vote, but they surely knew that there was going to be an election. Not getting informed is a form of apathy, too.

Three things we can do to improve access-based turn-out issues:

1) Mail-in Ballots – Either run the entire election by mail-in ballot (as was done for the HST Referendum earlier this year) or have mail-in ballots available for those that wish to request one. This would allow those travelling or working during the election the opportunity to vote. It would also make it easier for people with mobility issues and those that have to travel a long way to participate in the election.

2) Voter’s Cards – Rather than send out a flyer to every mailbox in the electoral area, the RDN could send out addressed voter’s cards to everyone on the mailing list. This is more likely to be read than a newspaper-type flyer. While canvassing during this election, many people I spoke with were expecting this to arrive in the mail.

3) Additional Polling Stations – If mail-in ballots are not adopted for our next election, we absolutely need a second polling station closer to the Meadowood community. A 40-minute drive to the polls (one way) presents a significant deterrent to voting.

Voter’s cards, optional mail-in ballots and additional polling stations would certainly cost more. Voter’s cards would cost less than $5000, which is a small price to pay if it gets more people involved in our democratic process. A community-wide mail-in ballot might even be less expensive than our current practice of renting a hall and casting our ballots on election day.

While I would love to suggest Internet-based voting options, it’s really up to the provincial government: they have to create or modify legislation to allow for it.

What do you think? What more could we do to increase voter turnout? Are you scared of what could happen if we had a referendum on incorporation? Is it worth investing a bit of money if it could improve turn out? What are regions that have a high turnout (like Bowen Island and Tahsis) doing differently that we could try here?

It’s over! Whoopie!

Please join me in congratulating Mr. Julian Fell on his election (unofficial results). Mr. Fell is passionate about serving our community, and he has a wealth of experience at his disposal that I know he will put to use. I hope that the entire community will join me in supporting Mr. Fell as he endeavors to work for our community. God bless you, Mr. Fell!

Congratulations also to our new School Trustee in Area F, Julie Austin.

I’ll write more tomorrow. For now, I just need to digest things. The last two weeks has been so full of ups and downs, so full of not knowing. Now I can devote myself to the three upcoming concerts, especially my own church choir’s presentation of the Gloria in December. I’ve identified a couple of skills I didn’t know I had, and I’ll be looking for new ways to make use of them. The community isn’t ready for me, but I’m ready for a change in my life, and I think that I will be looking back in five years and seeing that this election was the spark.

Over the next few weeks, look for this blog to change. It is going to morph into a community website. I’m going to list community organizations, business and events because we don’t really have anything out there that markets our area specifically. Don’t expect me to just go away, though! I’ve enjoyed blogging & participating on social media platforms. You’ll be hearing from me again soon. (Saturday and Sunday next week, in fact, if you come out to the Island Consort’s concerts in Ladysmith and Nanaimo!)

I would like to thank:

My husband Randy, my mother Linda and my sister Araby. All served as sounding boards for my ideas and helped review my speeches and blog articles. I appreciate the sober advice and patience of my husband, the steadfast support of my mother and the frank encouragement of my sister.

My sign helpers: my mom, my husband, my nephew Noah (for helping put up the first and last signs), my nephew Markus (for helping to put up the first signs) and my friends & family that put signs in front of their property.

My friends at spinning that encouraged me to run.

My manager and co-workers at Travelodge Parksville for allowing me the time off I needed in the final two weeks of the campaign.

The church choir at St. Stephen’s United Church in Qualicum Beach for putting up with me while I was distracted!

The other candidates: Leanne Salter, Julian Fell and Richard de Candole, for being open and amicable throughout the campaign.

Local media, including the Oceanside Star, Parksville-Qualicum Beach News, Shaw TV Central Vancouver Island, CKWN 980, and the Nanaimo Daily for their coverage of the election and for providing all the candidates with a venue to share their opinion.

Local organizations, including ORCA, ACES, Corcan-Meadowood Residents Association, and Back Road Java for planning public events for candidates to meet the public.

Everyone that supported me with their votes. I’m humbled by the trust that you put into me.

Everyone that didn’t vote for me, but listened to what I had to say with an open mind.

What I learned:

I have a natural talent for public speaking, and I should use this gift more often.
I need to ask for help: I can’t do everything by myself.
The people of our area are amazingly gracious and welcoming. Despite my concern about bothering people in person, over the telephone or over the Internet, very few people (<1%) I met responded with hostility or irritation.
We have a lot of diversity in our community. We have amazing talent and skill, too.
We’re not a closed system. Our community events & organizations include many participants from the rest of the Oceanside area.

If I run for office again I learned that…:

I need to start early and start confidently.
I can’t be shy in asking people to support me with their votes or their money.
I need a sign crew. I need someone to completely take over putting up the signs and checking to make sure that they are put back up if they are vandalized or blown over.
I have better ideas on how to position signage.
I need to make use of more print media & door-to-door because so many people don’t look to the Internet for information.
There is a huge, huge amount of voter apathy in our community.

Most Negative Campaign Experience:

Having my campaign signs targeted for vandalism. We checked on someone signs periodically throughout the campaign, including the night before the election when I decided to reposition some. I get that my cheap sign stands didn’t hold up well in the wind made and also made them easy targets for vandals to just veer off the road and run over with their car, but given the number I also found just pulled up and tossed or the number that I didn’t even find, I think that someone was intentionally going after my signage. I don’t have a clue who would do such a thing. I have no reason to believe that any of the other candidates were involved. Quite the opposite: one of the other candidates was even cordial enough to let me know where one had been run over. I suppose that I should be flattered that someone considered me to be enough of a threat to make them want to run down, pull up or steal my signs, but mostly, I just feel sad. The signs, by the way, with stands & taxes included cost just under $500.00.

Most Positive Campaign Experience:

The entire campaign. Okay, that’s really evading the question (politician style!), but it’s true. The entire campaign was a vehicle for personal growth and relationship building. As exhausting as it has been, if I know that I could learn this much about myself and my community, I would absolutely do something crazy like this again. If I had to pick just one, single moment, though, it would have to be while campaigning at the Errington store/post office when, as I offered a flyer to a man getting out of his car, he told me that he had already voted… for me! Even though we had never met, he had put his trust and confidence in me. It was an amazing moment of humility, gratitude and joy.

Campaign Facts:

749 unique visitors visited my website during the campaign.

My entire campaign cost less than $650.00.

Skye’s plans for the last 24 hours.

Here we are. Just after midnight on the final day of campaigning. In just under 24 hours, I will be legally obliged to stop campaigning and sit back and wait.

So how do I intend to use these last few, precious hours? I guess I should start by getting a good night’s sleep, but I’m almost tempted to pull an all-nighter and contact electors through social media. Throughout this campaign, I’ve been too shy or humble to ask people to actually vote for me. When I started handing out my business cards, my message was, “I don’t care who you vote for; just get out and vote.” Not anymore. I have a real, solid shot at winning this race. I’ve demonstrated my communication skills. I think that I even surprised myself a bit with my public speaking skills. My blog and website speak for themselves. This may be the best campaign website of any candidate in Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Area E, Area F or Area G, and my activity on social media is beyond that of any other candidate in the same areas.

My plans for the last 24 include contacting voters by telephone and Facebook to say, “vote for me, and tell everyone you know to vote for me”. At this point, door to door is just too time consuming. I may try and hand out postcards at a few local businesses. I’m scheduled to attend a tweetup in Nanaimo tomorrow to network with Nanaimo candidates and business leaders. Oh, and I have to run errands: buy dog food, pick up pay cheque and return a library book.

Why candidates (and businesses) should be using social media…

A month or so ago, I attended a tweetup at Smashin’ Glass in Parksville. A tweetup is an event where people who use Twitter meet together face-to-face. We have them from time to time in our area, usually with 8-12 people meeting for lunch at a local restaurant. In this case, Smashin’ Glass invited folks to come by their shop and try their hand at a simple fused glass project – for free. I signed up and got to meet some new folks as well as connect with some people I had already met at previous tweetups.

(As an aside, Smashin’ Glasses strategy to offer tweeters a free project was genius. I’ve already been back for another class with my mother, and my sister wants to come as soon she finds a babysitter. Naturally, I’ve told lots of people all about it, and I will know to recommend it to guests at hotel looking for things to do in Parksville. Smashin’ Glass is benefiting from honest word-of-mouth advertising. They’re even getting advertising here in my blog now, too!)

Today on Twitter, I asked if any candidates from Parksville, Qualicum or the electoral areas would like to join me at the Community Meals lunch in Qualicum tomorrow… then commented on how pointless the invitation was since none of the other candidates are even on Twitter. (I did correct this shortly thereafter, since Peter Morrison for Parksville council tweets regularly and at least two RDN candidates have accounts, though they don’t use them often enough to be considered active.) Becky, someone I met at the tweetup, replied to me saying that none of the candidates in her area were using Twitter, either. She hadn’t even been able to find websites for them. Having read a newspaper article on one of the candidates in her area, I sent Becky a link to the blog post that I had written in response. She read the articles, responded to me, and decided to blog about the whole situation – the candidates and the fact that she hadn’t been able to find out anything about them online.

The reality is that for a lot of people – especially younger people – the Internet is our main communication tool and information medium. We don’t read a lot of newspapers or flyers. We don’t listen to much radio or watch a lot of local news. Why read a static newspaper story when you can chat directly with the candidate and the newspaper editor – and even watch them argue with one another! Candidates have mini debates 140 characters at a time. In Nanaimo, the election chatter on twitter has been a great way for voters to get informed because election related comments are easy to search for (#NanX11) and many of the candidates are active online.

By not having any online presence, the candidates in Becky’s area lost out on an opportunity to inform a voter. Because I have one, I was able to 1) meet Becky, 2) form a friendly relationship with her, and 3) provide her with useful information. I didn’t specifically do any of this (twitter, tweetups, share information) to get votes; I just happen to enjoy networking. It’s enough of a reward to meet new people, get to know them, participate in conversations, get help when I need it and/or be helpful when I can. That said, after helping out Becky today, because of those three steps, Becky included me in her blog post and encouraged folks living in Area F to vote for me.

So, why do you need to be online, candidates? To meet people, to build relationships with them, to be helpful, and to reap the rewards of genuine human interaction.

Thanks Becky!

Skye Donald: Audio Blog

I want to mix up the media I’m using in my blog, so I thought that an audio blog would be a nice addition. Because my closing speech at last night’s All Candidate’s meeting was too long to finish the way I wanted to, I decided to record it and share it with you here. Of course, now I’m just reading it from the comfort of my home rather than to an audience in a large room, so it is a little different, but I hope this helps voters see another side of me and profiles another skill that I have to offer.

Q&A with the PQB News – Skye Donald’s Full Responses

The PQB News sent out a list of questions to the RDN candidates in our area. Sadly, they didn’t give us a word-limit, so when I saw the one or two sentence answers in today’s paper, I was kind of disappointed (but not surprised) that they weren’t able to capture what I was trying to get across. Here are my answers in full:

1. What is your opinion on the issue of watershed protection?

The key to water stewardship in our region is education and communication. The attitude that “my well never runs dry, so what has any of this got to do with me?” needs to be met with accessible, easy to understand information. Our wells aren’t closed, self-contained systems: what we do on our property affects other people – our neighbours next door and our neighboring communities. There is lots of information available, but it either isn’t filtering down to individual water users or it isn’t trusted because of the animosity between residents of Area F and the RDN. We need to explore better ways to get the message out to residents and property owners, and we need to attempt to try and repair the fractured relationship between the RDN and our community because whatever path our community decides to take, we’re still going to have to work with the RDN on regional issues like water.

2. What would you do to deal with solid waste in the Regional District?

Is Zero Waste enough?

The RDN is leading the country in solid waste management, but there are two specific areas that could use improvement: the cost of recycling for businesses and the disposal of dangerous recyclable materials that are not included in the residential curbside program. More needs to be done to encourage businesses to recycle. Right now, it is cost prohibitive for many businesses: a single paper-bin pick-up could cost a commercial customer as much as a resident pays for an entire year of garbage service. Anything that the RDN can do to make recycling an affordable option for business (including offering the service itself) should be considered. For residents, more needs to be done to prevent harmful items like batteries, medications and compact fluorescent light bulbs from being tossed into the garbage. Recycling needs to be easy, or people won’t do it. Neighborhood recycling stations, located as close together as post offices or mailboxes, are just one option that could make recycling these kinds of items easier for residents.

3. What is your input on the regional growth review?

Because our communities are so interconnected, I appreciate the need for a document like the RGS, and the goals of the plan sound attractive, but part of the draft states that “All bylaws, including OCP’s for electoral areas, adopted by a regional district board and all services undertake by the board must be consistent with an adopted RGS.” (Section 1.2 of the RGS Final Draft) continues to limit the ability of residents in Area F to direct the shape of our own community. It serves to further push Area F towards incorporation as a municipality.

The RGS review doesn’t appear to have included any public consultation events in Area F after the draft RGS was issued in April, 2011. Less than 35 residents in Area F responded to a survey on the RGS review draft document. Our community has not had sufficient input on this document for me to support it. The draft proposes a review of village centers: I do not support the redesignation of any village centre in Area F as a “local service centre” as described in the RGS. Redesignation of our local village centres in Errington, Coombs and Meadowood as “local service centres” closes the door on any future services such as transit or water service. This is a matter for our community – not the RDN – to decide. The RGS wants to limit rural access to water & sewer services as a way of preventing urban sprawl, but if we want services and are willing to pay for them, then we deserve the full support of the RDN in acquiring them.

4. What is your solution to the current shortage of volunteer firefighters in some of the fire departments in the district?

Improved communication is one avenue to pursue that may help address the volunteer shortage. If the volunteer fire departments in Area F were to collaborate and include their newsletters with the semi-annual RDN newsletter distribution, they could save money and reach more residents. We need to get the word out about the tangible benefits of volunteering, including the honorarium offered, first-aid certification, Class 3 driver’s license certification, and medical benefits. We also need to let people know that they don’t need to be “body builders” to volunteer. Individual departments should be able to draw on RDN resources to assist them with developing their websites and social media presence: the younger generation gets their information from the Internet, not from direct mail.

Collaboration or cooperation between departments to share resources, including volunteers, is another option that could help address volunteer shortages, but any such collaboration absolutely must be initiated by the individual departments and not imposed on them by the RDN. The RDN should be available to support departments if & when they are interested in exploring these options. Finally, anything we can do to make our region more attractive to active, young people as a place to live will increase the base from which we can draw volunteers. This means that we need encourage affordable housing and meaningful employment. Both housing and employment are directly affected by zoning, bylaws, and community services from recreation to transit – all issues that the RDN has direct control over.

5. Is fire protection in RDN at safe levels?

Obviously the shortage of volunteers is a concern, but according to our fire departments, yes. The Errington VFD’s achievement of the Superior Tanker Shuttle certification in 2005 and the construction of the Meadowood Fire Hall (Dashwood #2) have significantly increased fire protection in our community. We are also fortunate to have the Coastal Fire Centre, one of six regional wildland fire centres across BC, administered from right here in our community. Of course, there are always areas that we can improve upon. We need to improve road access to some areas in our community to ensure that emergency units can respond quickly and residents can evacuate safely in the event of a wildfire or other disaster. Supporting the proposed highway interchange for Corcan Road is just one way we can improve safety for our community.

6. What is your input to meet our area’s increasing health care demands?

I’m disappointed with the design of the Oceanside Health Centre. I’m disappointed in the lack of emergency services and the apparent emphasis to house private businesses in the building (private doctor’s offices, pharmacy, x-ray), which puts existing health care providers in our area at a disadvantage. At this point in the process, though, I don’t know that it is reasonable or even possible to stop or significantly alter the project. The fact is that we desperately need an urgent care facility/walk-in clinic in our area NOW, and this project, flawed as it may be, is still an improvement over services currently available in our community.

Aside from the Health Centre issue, there are other things that the RDN can do to improve the long-term health of our community. Supporting healthy activity and exercise through recreation services and facilities is one way the RDN can help build a healthy community. The RDN needs to ensure that family-friendly services and zoning are in place so that younger people can afford to live in this community to meet the increasing service demands of aging population.

“In the Family”

I just received an email from my father-in-law in North Vancouver. He sent me this photo with a message wishing me good fortune and gave me this message, “[Skye] is following in the footsteps of Joseph Donald who in 1870 was elected ML A for Charlotte County, New Brunswick , a position he held for 4 years.” He even included a photo!

My mother ran for local office in Parksville twice, once for mayor and once for councellor in a by-election. The mayoral race happened before I was old enough to remember such things, but she tells me that she came in second. After the election, she was relieved because she didn’t know where she would find the time to do the job – something true for any young person running for office. I do remember the by-election, and while my mother had a very good showing (second or third), she did not win. As a single mom, her budget was pretty much limited to a few photocopied hand-outs. Interestingly, Brunie Brunie, now running for councellor in Nanaimo, also ran in that race!

Skye Donald’s Shaw TV Candidate Profile

Arrowsmith Star

Community News for Coombs & Errington, BC. Skye's take on Politics, Farming, Music & Faith.

Category Archives: 2011 RDN Campaign