Requiem for Jane

Last night was election night and aside from the races where there was no incumbent, there were few surprises. All but one of the incumbents were returned although there were a couple of close races.

As for the mayoral race, David Miller was all but assured re-election. His closest challenger was Jane Pitfield. Jane received 188,932 votes to Dave's 332, 969 votes. While that was more votes than I expected I was not surprised with the end result.

I just want to say a few words on Jane's behalf. The Task Force to Bring Back the Don has 23 citizen members and 3 council members. In the 8 years that I have served with the Task Force, the only council member who has ever showed up to our meetings was Jane. Usually she appeared unannounced and butted her way into our agenda to say her piece then scooted out again, but at least she showed up. She also sent one of her assistants to listen in on our meetings. Having an attentive council member is always a plus.

In addition to her deputations she also helped raise a little bit of money for our yearly expenses with newsletters and other publications.

To our misfortune she took on the rather quixotic task of trying to unseat David Miller. She was much more useful as a councillor and if she had stayed could have served as long as she wanted.

Personally I think she wasn't as good a candidate for mayor as Miller. Whatever naysayers he has, Miller has been a forceful proponent of several environmental issues that the Task Force supports and an advocate for the Don. Much more so than his predecessor (who never once made an appearance at our events).

Regardless, Jane will be missed by us. We can only hope that the next lot of council members will bring us as good an advocate as Jane was.

So if nobody has said it, on behalf of the Don River, thank you, Jane.