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Elected politicians do have numerous reports and related written material to read as part of their job. They also attend a considerable number of meetings, not all of their choosing. It goes with the territory. There is another aspect of their responsibilities that is important. It’s called getting off backsides, getting out, and finding out what is actually going on in their municipality. The headlines read, “Dance hall pavilion may be burned to the ground”, and “Termites infest heritage building.” The litany of waste and poor decisions grows. Will no one on Council ever take responsibility for their actions? Matters are terribly amiss when we hold youth more accountable than our political leaders. For the record, three of the current councillors: Maureen Couture, Gordon Campbell, and Randy Roppel did not serve on the last Council and Campbell, to his credit, has raised or supported substantive issues and we hope Maureen Couture will turn the desolate Tiny Tots Park into a child’s jewel. The opportunity is hers. Council must have known the pavilion was infested when Martin Quinn approached them regarding his renovation plans. They said nothing. And this year when I and others wrote about the great idea of Martin and his volunteers to bring the pavilion alive once more, Council said nothing. It cannot have been ignorance. If there was ever a case for transparency, this is one for the ethics book. Sandy Donald says, “If I was a neighbour of this pavilion, and had a wooden structure, I would be concerned.” Why was no concern shown for the neighbours and the pavilion long before now? Are the band stand and adjacent shelters threatened? Where was the concern when termite testing was discontinued? Ron Hewitt comments, “I wouldn’t be impressed with taking termites to ward two.” Was Ron “impressed” with allowing them to develop in ward one without testing? The Walkerton tragedy was not caused by funding cuts. The root cause was a commission and the mayor who neglected to get off their backsides and see for themselves that well five was badly located and staff were incompetent and cheating, behaviour contributed to by blatant nepotism. Council has learned nothing from that tragedy with its cutting of corners and lack of transparency. When will they?
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