Mayor Jack Mussallem joined in on the social media discussion for the 2014 Municipal election campaign, introducing his Facebook page to the public in the last 24 hours.
A project, which features a few photos of the Mayor but provides little in the way of background information about his bid for re-election, at least compared to some of the other social media offerings of other candidates from this campaign.
For the most part, the purpose of the new online portal appears to be to provide a place to show an 11 minute video message from the mayor.
A snapshot of pretty well all the issues that seemed to jump into the campaign conversation over the last month, from the Mayor's leadership thoughts on experience, to Watson Island and Lot 444
During the presentation the Mayor recounts some of the skills that he is offering the community for another four years. As well he reviews some of the challenges that the city faces, which he suggests require his continued time on Council to deliver appropriate choices for the city's residents.
Stressing such things as continuity, stability and consistency as we go forward into the changes ahead for the area and returning to his previous themes of it being a time of generational change for the city.
As part of the Mayor's address, he reviews the state of the infrastructure in the city and the need to deal with those issues and to set the foundation to take us into the next period of growth that the city could see.
Watson Island gains a bit of a review in his video presentation, with the Mayor outlining how the industrial site needs to be sold and redeveloped, put back on the tax roll and to be done through port related activities that will provide jobs for local residents.
He offers up his thoughts on the duties of a Mayor and what needs to be done at City Hall, as well as he is prepared to tackle some of the challenges that are ahead.
Once again calling into question the wisdom of taking a chance on anyone with little experience in the ways of municipal governance. A conversation topic that did get the Mayor into a bit of trouble at the recent Mayoralty Forum.
The theme of proposed development for Lot 444 also gets a shout out in the Mayor's presentation, as he outlines his vision for the area across from Seal Cove along the east shore of Tuck Inlet. Calling it something that could reduce the city's 250 million dollar infrastructure deficit and offer new opportunities that residents may desire.
He outlines the plans of the City to hold a Public Hearing on the proposed changes to the Lot 444 area, where residents will have the opportunity to make their comments and views know.
To wrap up the overview of his campaign issues, the Mayor tackles the topic of public accessibility to the Mayor's office, stating that the door is always open. A door that he says will remain open with the support of the voters and his re-election to office.
His final point is to remind the voter that he is there to share his knowledge on the issues, willing to receive the suggestions, concerns and ideas of all residents, something which he states will bring all working together to make the community a better place.
The timing of the debut of his Facebook page is probably going to be a little puzzling for some, the surprise appearance on social media an obvious new thing for the Mayor.
Leaving his appearance however to the last 48 hours of an election campaign, certainly won't allow for much time for residents to review his video message and take stock of what he has to say.
The Facebook debut would seem to have him playing what appears to be a game of catch up, when it comes to getting the message out through the growing social media options.
Why no one introduced him to twitter or YouTube is also a bit of a mystery, as those two social media options have been used in a rather successful fashion by some of the others running for office in Prince Rupert this year.
In the Mayoralty race alone, three three other candidates for his job have had their websites and social media options up and running since they declared for office.
Some of those projects have more to offer than others, but all have been delivering the message for weeks now about their plans should they top the polls on Saturday.
You can review our listings of all of the information portals from all candidates here.
The Mayor's last minute entry to the media stream would appear to be an answer to some of those points that the others have been making for over a month now.
Though perhaps that was a wise move, as in the end it will be up to the voters to decide whether he is listed as the "elected" or "former" Mayor by the time Saturday's vote comes to an end.
For more items related to the 2014 Municipal election see our archive page here.
This is just another example of the Mayor's lack of communication with the voters of Prince Rupert. This also shows that the City of Prince Rupert has not kept up with the times. Lee Brain has shown through his campaign he would be a forward thinking Mayor and has outshone Mayor Mussallem throughout this campaign.
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