OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor ([email protected]) Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a previous letter, Oro-Medonte council candidates have much to answer for, published on Sept. 25.
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Mr. Hutcheson’s opinion letter to the editor on Monday, Sept. 25, 2022 contained misleading statistics. He stated that 71 letters were received by Oro-Medonte council and 57 of those letters asked that a by-election be held to replace the deputy mayor and councillor who had passed away.
The reality is that the 57 individuals who wanted a by-election represented less than 0.3 % of the 18,014 registered voters in Oro-Medonte in 2018.
This means that over 99.5% of the registered voters were either satisfied with council’s decision to appoint replacements without a by-election and avoid the cost of a by-election, or they were not interested.
Councillors are elected to make decisions. We may not agree with their decisions and we get the right to express our opinions every four years, but to imply that not following the wishes of 57 people out of 18,014 people, implies that the council ignored the wishes of the majority and this is false and misleading.
Just because you disagree with their decisions doesn’t give you the right to say that council members are anti-democratic and ignoring the will of the people.
You do not have the right to falsely imply that you represent the majority. The truth is that 57 out of 18,014 voters is not a majority.
David Pollock
Oro Medonte
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