I first saw it on Twitter and didn’t believe it. So I looked it up.

Turns out is was true. An expert, commenting on the Toronto mayoral election, was surprised that voters were concerned with local issues. I must admit, it made me wonder about his expertise.

Municipal elections are about traffic patterns and garbage collection; about neighborhood crime and potholes in the streets; about affordable housing and public transit. Local elections are local.

Climate change may be the most pressing issue of our generation, but a mayor or councilor can’t do much about it, except perhaps in choosing green options for city services. Even then though, people want their taxes low – the green alternative may not be at the forefront. Nobody runs for mayor on a climate change platform.

So too with reconciliation with Canada’s indigenous peoples. This is primarily a federal matter. Municipal voters may be concerned about the issue, but it isn’t a ballot question at the local level.

So I’m somewhat mystified that a professor who supposedly has studied these things would miss the mark so badly. Maybe, in the heat of the evening as the votes were being counted, he misspoke and didn’t realize it until his quote was published.

I hope so. The alternative doesn’t make experts look good. An in an era of mistrust of “authorities,” it doesn’t help when the expert commentators look like they don’t know what they are talking about.

Am I being too critical?