The next election campaign kicked off last Wednesday night.

Nah, nothing to do with Carney, Trump or Ford. This is more serious. This vote is about the Big Questions.

Like, why is there a muddy hole with an ugly blue fence around it where the Old Town public school once stood? Is there no school because kids are sparse in a town with no affordable family homes and hundreds of Airbnbs?

How did that forest of steel girders sprout up by the Village drugstore? Suddenly there’s a major new Disney-winery, sprawling hotel, stacks of vacay rentals, food emporium and new street of stores — so, who decided to make this look like Mississauga?

Did local officials really allow 700 trees to be cut down in Virgil for some houses yet to be sold, let alone built? Why are folks in St. Davids being forced into a traffic overhaul or the people in Glendale confronted with hulking condo towers? How was the battle to preserve heritage properties that survived intact for two centuries suddenly lost?

Why did citizens have to protest outside town hall last year with signs and slurs just to be heard? And why wasn’t the mayor there the other night when the largest political mob in modern NOTL history packed the community centre, fully 500 days before a vote?

“If you were the lord mayor or the deputy mayor,” says organizer Stuart McCormack, “why wouldn’t you show up?”

“You don’t take on those jobs for the comfort factor. If you want to understand what people’s feelings are and what the organization is doing, then it seems to me it would be prudent to keep an eye on things. You know what they say — keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

The NOTL Residents Association is now alive, kicking, organizing, growing and feisty. Director Norm Arsenault told me new apps have been streaming in, “at the rate of 50 or 60 a day.”

On that first night there were no more chairs in the hall. The parking lot outside looked like Costco before a hurricane.

The goal, simply, is to punt from office people who make bad decisions, don’t reflect the popular will or are seen as imperious and aloof. Not showing up, says McCormack, was an excellent indicator.

Granted, being a local politician is not an easy gig. Especially in a place where tourists swamp residents, people pour in from the metropolis down the QEW, developers are hungry and connected, weirdos show up to “save” the horses and we risk being loved to death and turning into an amusement park.

Yes, taxes are high and increasing too fast, but the real issue is not having leaders that listen.

Already there’s chatter about who the contenders will be for the top job. Former Lord Mayor Betty Disero, the ex-Toronto politician, may return. HVAC mogul and philanthropist Vaughn Goettler is actively considering another run. Regional councilor and recently defeated federal Liberal candidate Andrea Kaiser is a contender. And the current boss, Gary Zalepa, may reoffer despite his slipped halo.

“There are a thousand and one rumors in this town,” McCormack says, “and one of them may possibly be true.”

So the rebs now have a volunteer army, a social media presence and the political capital that only a packed hall on the night of a big hockey game can bring. The goal will be even more engaged citizens, more passion in local politics and a slate of candidates.

This is how deep change starts. Bums in chairs. Taking back the town.

Garth Turner is a NOTL resident, journalist, author, wealth manager and former federal MP and minister. garth@garth.ca