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by Fred Kirby                                  June 8, 2005 

When we thought it could not get worse in Parliament, sleaze and unethical behaviour continues to be revealed. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives wallow in the dung as one maneuvers to maintain power while the other lusts after it. Opportunism is the only guide. 

Is it something in the Ottawa water that causes elected men and women to behave so badly? No, it is in the values people take to Ottawa and the system those values create. 

Whether it is Ottawa, the legislatures or the municipalities, the game is the same though the stakes are different. Involved is service, power, and fame in its fleeting meaningless moments. Members, whether they started out on a municipal council, local school board, county council or none of these, take their personal values with them. If those values are sound then the person will not be found padding expense accounts, using secret slush funds, or selling their souls for personal advantage. If those values are not sound, we end up with to-day’s parliament. Ottawa does not change values; the temptations are just greater. 

The tawdry behaviour of parliament, if it is to change, must do so from the bottom up when people in municipalities across Canada demand change. That change, to work, needs to begin at the local level and grow nationally. Modern society does not want top down control in anything. 

Kincardine has the opportunity to lead the way with an improved voting system that makes election to council more competitive and a transparent government with freer and more immediate information. The method and the technology are available. What it takes to make the changes are members of council who see the future. Members of council, whose primary desire is for whatever power is available, will, of course, resist change at every turn. Open minds are required. 

There are members open to change. They should be working for our future. Some should retire quietly and take their 19^th century parochialism with them while others who cannot let go of their perks from BMTS, Westario and sundry public displays should just quit.  It is better that we become known for taking the lead in 21^st century democratic open government than for our nuclear waste storage.