Letters to the editor Sept. 22, 2020

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As for St. Paul’s plans for no more blue lights in its ground-floor bathrooms (so that druggies will feel welcome), I think most people would agree that shooting up in a hospital is not the greatest idea to begin with.

But Tracy Muggli, executive director of St. Paul’s, holds that “blue lights might promote a stigmatization of people who use injection drugs.” Now we wouldn’t want that, would we?

So in this brave new world, I guess it’s buildings we can’t afford, policies few understand, and the devil take the hindmost.

Wayne Eyre
Saskatoon

Acclamations reduce voter turnout

Re: Acclamation a disservice to democracy (SP, Sept. 11)

Tiffany Paulson makes a valid point that an acclamation in an election does a “disservice to constituents.“ Acclamations also reduce the voter turnout. It was 29 per cent in 2009 with three acclamations to city council but rose to 40 per cent in 2016 with no acclamations.

While not impacting voter turnout, public school board elections remain problematic with four trustees acclaimed in 2016 and four acclaimed in 2009.

People assume there will be a number of nominations, but we usually do not know that there is only one candidate in a ward until the date nominations close. One solution would be to give the same 24 hours that is given to nominated candidates to withdraw to allow for additional nominations in those wards where only one candidate has filed by the close of nomination date.

Without that change, I would encourage any citizen, especially young people, to consider running to ensure there are no acclamations. The city website has lots of useful information and guides for candidates.