Megacampaign Election notebook

>> Week before megaelection sees megachaos, megaletdowns and megalaughs

by CRAIG SEGAL

Big stink at the advanced polling last Sunday. Held mostly for the elderly and people who will not be able to vote November 4, the advanced polling was supposed to be a smooth affair. "There was pushing and shoving!" says one frustrated polling clerk, who didn't give her name because she was afraid of losing his job. "People were very cold and very tired because they were waiting for a long time. We had to call the police to get some semblance of control. People were swearing at me the whole time and accusing me of playing favourites." A bunch of Quebec-issued bureaucrats called the Transition Committee is organizing the election. It was their goof-up. They say they did not expect busloads of voters. Nor did they expect twice as many voters to show up as last election's advanced polling. Word is Westmount and Côte-St-Luc had the highest voter turnout. Both neighbourhoods are seen as devoutly anti-merger and pro-Tremblay. Does it represent a trend?



Voters were not the only people peeved with the politicos. City councillors had copious complaints of their own. "One almost gets a sense the government doesn't want anybody to vote," says Tremblay Snowdon candidate Marvin Rotrand. "It seems like it's a comedy of errors except it's not funny." Rotrand complains his voter lists have been "rife with errors." And he is frustrated revised lists integrate corrections right into the list, rather than sticking them at the bottom, as was done in previous elections. "I feel the transition committee let us down because they were supposed to do a better job about educating the public about this massive reform and we're left holding the bag," says Bourque candidate Carolina Gallo La Flèche, who looks much younger than her 39 years. La Flèche--a member of the Canadian Association for Human Rights, the World Wildlife Fund and the Centre for Research on Race Relations--is filling in for the prickly Gerry Weiner.



In an effort to melt his icy image, Gérald Tremblay has made some TV commercials. In one, he tries to make light of the 16 seconds it took him to respond to Bourque in one of their 14 debates. It's quite funny: just when you think the camera will stop zooming in on his head, it gets closer and closer, until his face fills your TV screen. The reasoning behind the madcap comedy? "Some people understood why Mr. Tremblay took the time he did, but some people have interpreted that on the negative side," says PR flak Sylvie Bussières. Bussières says Mr. T won all the debates. "Oh yes. Oh yes."



Here's the best line from the last public television appearance of the candidates on TVA's midday Dans la mire, last Monday: "Westmounters are the ones who will benefit the most [from the megacity], Cher Monsieur, because they are the heart of Montreal, you know very well," Bourque said, seemingly holding back laughter.



If you plan on voting, you should have received a letter with drawings of bug-eyed people with bird feet. If you don't know if you're on the list, call the transition committee (873-6676). It's too late to register. When you go to vote don't forget your driver's license, medicare card or passport, and a good book. If you don't have any of those, bring a photo ID and something with your name and address on it like a Hydro bill. Be prepared to vote for a mayor, a city councillor and possibly a borough councillor by filling in a circle next to their name. Rather than folding your ballot and stuffing it in a box, you will stuff it into an "electronic counting machine." (Don't fret. They have already been used in Hull, Sherbrooke, Verdun, LaSalle and Pointe-Claire.) Although it all sounds nice and democratic, you will not vote for your city council president. That position is decided among the councillors themselves. Expect brawls.