Best Local Editorial
Sponsored by CARDonline
Class 2091 - circ. up to 9999

Judge's Comments

First place goes to the Meaford (ON) Express, where Chris Fell's editorial "When does expansion not mean expansion?" followed his news story revealing closed-door talks about expanding a landfill shared by Meaford and Owen Sound. Hammering the point home (a bit too stridently), the editorial made a difference -- the dump was dumped and so were both mayors.

Like others in this category, the entry showed enterprising reporting as well as a willingness to stand up to small town councils that find secrecy more convenient than public scrutiny.

Joan Plaxton of the Valleyview (AB) Valley Views gets second place for her colourful response to vandals whose holiday season rampage in Valleyview damaged not only businesses and decorations but even trashed a nativity scene. She renewed her efforts to set up a citizen patrol by including a volunteer coupon on the opinion page along with pictures of the damage.

Paul Banks of the Gander (NL) Beacon calls for the abolition of an archaic local poll tax, which he calls "the poor tax". This entry demonstrates the first rule of opinion writing, which is to have one.

Some of the other entries didn't stake out clear positions, or chose topics that offered little room for solutions. There were several first-person commentaries that would have been better suited for the columnist category.