{"id":21805,"date":"2018-10-03T17:36:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T21:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=21805"},"modified":"2018-10-03T17:36:57","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T21:36:57","slug":"brocks-banter-the-power-of-positive-sparring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/brocks-banter-the-power-of-positive-sparring\/","title":{"rendered":"BROCK’S BANTER: The Power of Positive Sparring"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s something to be said about going first. There\u2019s also something to be said about going last. It\u2019s being in the middle, the sandwich filler, if you will, that is a little less clear.
\nBut, then again, we all know there is a certain special kind of dread that comes with going first or last. You\u2019re either a pioneering trailblazer, or a Johnny-Come-Lately who is left with no fertile ground left to plough.
\nPersonally speaking, growing up, going first or last always filled me with dread.
\nI wasn\u2019t a bold kid unless it was absolutely necessary. I wasn\u2019t one to speak up in class, for instance, if there wasn\u2019t anything particularly valuable to say. You didn\u2019t want to go into a class discussion cold, setting the tone for the talk, instead of having a moment or two to read the room. I never wanted to be first to arrive in class, lest people think I was a so-called brownnoser. Nor did I want to be the last guy to get his butt through the door because, in the end, you\u2019d be called out for it.
\nBeing first or last to arrive in class, however, was something you basically had control over.
\nThen there were those times where being first or last was completely out of your hands.
\nEveryone knows the gym class routine. When team sports were in the offing, two or four kids were generally chosen to be the team leaders tasked with forming their squads. More often than not, selection was based on the degree of friendship you shared with the respective team captain, or even one\u2019s elusive \u201ccool\u201d factor.
\nAs the quiet, awkward, fat kid, I was almost invariably picked last, and I was resigned to it. I never had to experience the anxiety of going first or face the expectations that come along with it, nor did I have to feel the butterflies flying around my gut dreading the shame of being the last one left on the vine. It was inevitable, I rolled with it, and it became something of a tradition.
\nSo, in a debate format, such as what a couple of hundred Aurora residents witnessed at Town Hall on Sunday afternoon, I spared some thoughts for the candidates that had to go first or last.
\nThose first Council candidates out of the gate had the responsibility of doing their best to set the tone for the discussions that followed. The middle of the pack candidates each had their moments to change the conversation. Then, the last candidate to speak, had the dubious honour of closing things out, sealing the deal. This can often be a thankless task, but one which affords them the opportunity to see where their fellow candidates fell short and fill in the gaps themselves.
\nThe same can be said of our Mayoral candidates. The first one had the opportunity to state his platform, watch the crowd, see what resonated with the sea of potential voters, perhaps fine-tuning as things went along.
\nSo, in some respects, I felt for incumbent Geoff Dawe when he was lobbed the perennial question, \u201cAre you able to say something complimentary about one of your opponents\u2019 platforms?\u201d
\nIt is a question these candidates face on a regular basis every four years, and it is a question that they should have been prepared for. Each of the four candidates vying to be Aurora\u2019s mayor for the next four years know each other fairly well, each working with each other for at least a few years on Council \u2013 the one exception being candidates Chris Ballard and Tom Mrakas, whose respective times on Council did not intersect.
\nIt was puzzling, however, that Mr. Dawe stumbled out of the gate with this very simple question.
\n\u201cI have to admit I am not entirely 100 per cent familiar with all of my competitors\u2019 platforms, so that would be somewhat of a challenge to do that,\u201d he said as the first candidate given a chance to respond. \u201cI do think Councillor Abel is a heck of a good guitar player. Councillor Mrakas is a really good basketball player; it\u2019s because he\u2019s tall. I am not sure what special talents Chris has. He\u2019s a good speaker.\u201d
\nJohn Abel took the ball.
\n\u201cMr. Ballard is a good speaker,\u201d said Mr. Abel. \u201cI think we all share a passion for our Town and our community and I think we should also recognize\u2026all the candidates here at the table that came here today and put their names forward. We don\u2019t do it for the money; we do it because we really care and I think it shows in all the work that we do. As for platforms, I am trying to think about something nice after the last series [of questions] and I am not there yet. I think we all want to be fiscally responsible and I just think we have a different interpretation about how we go about that. I can\u2019t really say anything more positive than that.\u201d
\nBut the positivity was building. Next up was Tom Mrakas.
\n\u201cI think that every single one of us sitting around this table do have a passion for this Town,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we all are looking to do what we believe is in the best interest of the community and, I think, at the end of the day, I respect each and every one of them for their opinions, even though I might not agree with them in how they go about it, but we all have the best interests of this Town at heard.\u201d
\nIt was left to Chris Ballard to close.
\n\u201cI like the fact that we all agree with each other that all candidates share a real passion for this Town and that it\u2019s very important. I think if I were to highlight a campaign, it would be John Abel\u2019s focus on fiscal responsibility and on planning. We share that. How we go about it, I think, is different. But we certainly share that. I agree with John that we need to do a much better job when it comes to spending your money.\u201d
\nPositivity snowballed with each passing candidate, which was a nice change of pace from the acrimony that punctuated the previous and subsequent questions, and will likely become a hallmark with this week\u2019s debate hosted by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, and next Thursday\u2019s forum offered by Sport Aurora.
\nBy then, this question should once again be old hat, and I hope each candidate is prepared to go first. Each candidate offers a lot to the community \u2013 whether you like it or not \u2013 and it is incumbent on every voter, and indeed, every candidate to bone up on their platforms so they can make an informed decision, or, if you\u2019re behind the debate table, land a few barbed points.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir There\u2019s something to be said about going first. There\u2019s also something to be said about going last. It\u2019s being in the middle, the sandwich filler, if you will, that is a little less clear. But, then again, we all know there is a certain special kind of dread that comes with going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5FH","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 02:27:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21805\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}