I Now, as the result of changes imposed by the T MUST STRIKE A LOT of Ontarians as at least passing strange that at this point in our

history we are in the midst of two high-profile

election campaigns, municipal elections here for four-year terms mandated by the provincial government and mid-term elections in the United States at which ballots will be cast at the municipal, state and federal level, and which will end in most of the winners having just two-year terms.

That certainly isn't the way it always was. In fact, until the mid-20th Century, municipal elections in Ontario took place every year, with the newly-elected councils not taking office until January.

Eventually, that began to change, in large part because of the number of acclamations. The argument was that a two-year term would mean more elections as well as better long-term planning. However, the change to two years was most certainly not the result of a groundswell of public opinion.

The same was true about 20 years ago when the provincial government of the day extended municipal councils' terms to three years. The change occurred primarily because of pressure from municipal politicians,and not from the voting public.

McGuinty Liberals following a campaign by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the coming municipal election will be the last we'll have for about 1,460 days - until the second Monday of November, 2010.

Although there may well be an valid argument that councils in cities the size of Toronto and Mississauga need long terms in office to accomplish needed changes, we fail to see any similar need in small-town and rural Ontario.

Clearly, what we have is a new form of what Paul Martin termed Parliament's "democratic deficit."

In our view, the provincial legislation should be changed to require municipal elections every two years, while permitting any municipality to make its mayoralty a four-year term or perhaps have just half the council seats up for grabs every two years.

Another "deficit reduction" tool would be a provincial law modeled on those in New England that require annual town hall meetings at which residents can express their opinions on how well or poorly their municipal politicians have been performing.

And of course the ultimate tool can be found in places like California and B.C., where failed politicians can be made the subject of recall votes.