Weekend reading

Here's a little light reading to send you off for the weekend. There's no word yet on whether a dog could run for mayor of Hamilton.

BOWMANVILLE, Ont. — Genny loves to run, but when it comes to politics, the town of Clarington won’t let her.

The three-year-old black Lab was denied her papers Monday to run for mayor in the town after a municipal clerk said she didn’t qualify for the position because of canine genes.

“Her nomination was rejected even before we could sign the papers,” Genny’s owner, Marven Whidden, 46, said. “We’re disappointed but not surprised. Genny has more support in this town than any candidate running.”

The hound patiently waited outside of town hall while her master went inside to the third floor to ask for the papers.

When Whidden told a woman behind the counter “I would like my dog to run for mayor,” he was told that Genny, despite her strong political beliefs in lowering taxes and creating more parks, would not be on the ballot.

“It has to be a person to be qualified to run in the election,” said Patti Barrie, chief marketing officer of the municipal clerk’s office. “She’s not a person, she’s a dog.”

But the ambitious pooch isn’t about to play dead yet.

Whidden is hoping residents petition town hall for her candidacy, or perhaps a law student could take up the cause and challenge the qualifications required for nomination.

“She’s going to take a break for a few days because she’s exhausted from all the media,” he said.

Whidden began a campaign several weeks ago on his blog that said if he had 100 supporters for Genny, he would file papers on her behalf to run for council.

He received so many responses from residents in other wards that he decided to go for mayor.

The main message, he said, is people are fed up with city councillors who don’t listen to residents and that a dog could do a better job.

“I’d rather vote for a dog than a politician,” said Clarington resident Bob McCann, 43. “Half of them shouldn’t even be there.”

Comments

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I'd vote for the dog, how could it be worse than what we have? Unfortunately though, the world of politics would soon turn a good dog, bad.