The fluoride issue is one of these things, like the speed limits, where I think people have less of a grasp on the general feelings of the electorate than they think they do.
It took five plebiscites to get it added, only 55% voted to keep it in the sixth. Then a 10-3 council vote removed it over a decade later which is the most decisive anything about the issue has been. Of those 10, five were re-elected twice (Farrell, Carra, Demong, DCU, and Keating), and a sixth was re-elected once (Stevenson). Don't know of the other four yes votes, all I could see was Nenshi and Pincott were absent.
That's a broad mix of councilors and people who would support them. Farrell might be leading these charge, but it's not anywhere near as against the political grain as one might hope. Like the speed limit issue, there's a lot of people very passionate about it that drives councilor support, not the other way around. A plebiscite will be a lot closer to 50/50 than it should be.
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