(Cows lowing)
NARRATOR:
in southwestern Ontario.
Soybeans, winter wheat, and corn for kilometres on end.
It's also the birthplace of the oil industry in North America.
More than 160 years ago, the first commercial oil well
was discovered here.
(Engine revving)
The township of Enniskillen is home to farmers
who have tended these fields for generations.
Off the 402 in Southern Ontario,
this rural community his home to just over 3,000 people,
including Kevin Marriott.
I just finished harvesting about 800 acres of soybeans
that are all exported to Japan,
and then we planted wheat behind that.
All the beans that we harvested are in storage
in these bins out behind, and we still have a little bit
of wheat to plant, but we have a couple weeks
before that has to be completely planted.
NARRATOR:
are the norm for Marriott.
He's been doing this for decades.
But for the past 28 years,
he's also spent a lot of his time here.
I first got elected to Enniskillen Township Council
in 1994, and I've been mayor since 2012.
To add to his resume, he's also the Warden of Lambton County,
Enniskillen's longest serving councillor,
and this past summer, became the township's
longest serving mayor.
In 1994, I was encouraged
by a current, um, councillor
that I should consider running, so I ran, thinking,
I'll only, like, put in one or two terms.
But for some reason, I'm still here.
First term elected as a councillor.
I believe, for four positions,
there was eight people running.
Very different from today.
This year, over 400 municipalities will be going
to the polls to vote for their local politician.
In neighbouring towns around here,
and in larger urban centres,
competition for these seats is stiff.
But not in Enniskillen.
Mayor Marriott has gone unchallenged since 2014.
But this year, he and his entire council
have all been acclaimed.
In 2018, 477 municipal candidates across Ontario
were acclaimed.
In 2022, 71 more candidates were acclaimed
for a total of 548.
What's more surprising
is the number of entire councils going acclaimed.
Particularly in smaller rural and northern communities.
Since 2014, the numbers have climbed from 19 to 32.
I did have quite a few phone calls before the period
was announced, of people that were thinking of running,
but the final deadline came and nobody did.
I was surprised at that.
There have always been acclamations
in municipal elections,
and according to political science professor,
Joe Lyons, the nature of local politics
have a few things going against them
when compared to other levels of government.
Low pay, low recognition,
um, there's not a lot of opportunity to pursue
big, ambitious projects.
If we think about municipal operating budgets, for example,
the significant majority of those budgets every year
will be, uh, basically predetermined.
So, for a small municipalities, police and fire
are going to eat up a significant chunk
of their budgets.
Marriott equates the salary he makes as mayor
to a well-paid volunteer position.
But says the satisfaction comes from seeing the improvements
to his community,
even if it comes with increasing online criticism.
It is getting harder to get people interested in stepping up
like I did in 1994.
Um, I blame part of that on social media.
I watch that a little bit and see the heavy criticism
that some mayors and councillors go through.
It was quite an honour to be considered.
Nobody wanted to run against me.
70% of the acclaimed candidates in this election
were incumbents.
And that means a lot more in smaller communities.
The stakes are a little higher, running for local office
in smaller placers than in larger places,
just because of those personal relationships.
People will likely know the incumbent.
Often people make the step, for example,
from councillor to mayor, so if someone's on council,
and they generally like the mayor,
they are probably, you know, less likely to run against them.
According to Lyons, the increase in acclamations
is also a symptom of these elections having very little
information about the candidates.
Municipal elections are non-partisan.
If we're voting for candidates federally and provincially,
even if we don't know much about them,
we generally know the ideological orientations
of the main political parties.
It's much harder to find out that information
about local candidates, especially in races where
a lot of people are running.
While Marriott won't be on the campaign trail this year,
he says competition helps politicians like himself
understand the issues at hand.
Well, it forces you to talk to as many people as possible,
to get feedback on what they wanted to see
for the future of Enniskillen.
The way democracy is supposed to work,
there is supposed to be a competition,
there is supposed to be an exchange of ideas.
If-- if they don't have the opportunity to do that, right,
then that limits the kind of choice or voice they have
in local politics.
As the acclaimed voice of Enniskillen,
Mayor Marriott is staying focused on the next four years,
tending to both his constituents and his crops.