The proposed location of the sewage-sludge treatment plant in Esquimalt doesn’t bother me half as much as the way the decision to go there was made. It can be argued that closed-door meetings can be OK when property acquisition or personnel matters are involved, but surely that rule should never have been applied in this case.
Why the CRD would opt for secrecy in such a sensitive matter and then make such a dismal defence of its clumsy and arbitrary move can only be attributed to spring madness brought on by breathing pollen-laden air. I suggest it must be something in the air, because it wasn’t just the Capital Regional District making weird democracy-defying decisions as winter grumbled truculently into spring.
On March 19 in this spot, I made mention of former mayor Richard Wilson warning Victoria taxpayers in 1965 that he and his council were having a tough time wrestling the city’s budget into shape and that tax-wise things looked “in one word — bleak.” No such problems with our current team of Victoria city budget-wranglers. They took a run at the budget, but quickly whimpered number-crunching was too tough a game for them to play. But they did have a solution: the city could hire a consultant to show them how to cut costs by cutting programs.
I wish I was making this up. At the regional level, we have 17 million taxpayer dollars being offered for a sewage-sludge plant site without a word to the folks who put up the money or even a whisper to Esquimalt citizens or council. And at the single-municipality level, we have the grandmother of all local governments, staid old Victoria, shamefully admitting next year’s budget is beyond their management skills — and presumably beyond the skills of the already hired and handsomely paid management team.
I don’t know what skilled budget consultants charge for their services these days, but it seems strange to be hiring one or two as a money-saving program. Could it be that city council is looking for a non-elected target for public wrath when programs are cut? You know: “Not our fault, the consultants made us do it.”
An advisory note to readers: If you happen to run into Hugh Curtis while going about your business, do not ask him for his thoughts on hiring consultants to help with a municipal budget unless you have time to spare. If you do come across the former mayor of Saanich, and later provincial minister of finance through both rich and lean years, and choose to ignore my advice, be prepared for an eloquent dissertation on the responsibilities of mayors, ministers and senior managers at budget time.
While doing my own fulminating over betrayals of democratic values and budget bashing, I spotted a small story buried deep on an inside page of the Times Colonist informing me “the cost of coming to Canada and becoming a Canadian citizen is about to rise.” Couldn’t help but think brand-new Canadians won’t know the half of it, but it’s still worth the price.
And there is always hope and opportunity, as Justin Trudeau demonstrated a week or so back when 100 affluent people in Halifax paid $1,000 each to meet the young man at a cocktail party. His Liberal party leadership-campaign war chest was boosted by $100,000. One prominent realtor viewed the assembly of lawyers, doctor, and big-business executives, and pronounced he was impressed by Trudeau’s ability to “attract such a wide gambit of people.”
I’m not sure what a “wide gambit” could be. I can think of more descriptive way of portraying 100 people who could afford $1,000 to hear a 15-minute speech from a guy aspiring to lead a political party in current disarray, but I know a family newspaper would never run it.
One last thought on democratic politics: In early March, I’m sure most readers picked up on the story of Falkland Islanders voting solidly to stay under the protective arm of Great Britain. In a wonderful demonstration of democracy in action, 1,518 of the 1,649 eligible voters cast ballots. The islands’ newspaper, aptly named The Penguin News, reported one ballot was spoiled, one “unaccounted for” and three votes were for seeking independence from British rule. Not quite 100 per cent turnout, but close.
It is said some islanders want to find the three dissenters, with a few rumbling the trio are traitors and should be found and asked to leave the Falklands.
Wiser heads are suggesting the three should be praised for daring to have a point of view different to the majority and voting as their conscience dictated. I hope those voices prevail, and they will if Falklanders really treasure one of the greatest gifts democracy brings to the world — the secret ballot. Which should never be confused with secret meetings. The one should be sacred, the other anathema.