"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Don't Call Me for The Dinner

No  Council meetings for a couple of  weeks.  Police Chief Dinner next Tuesday. Went to that once when I was on the board in the nineties.

The Town pays for Councillors to attend. It's a fund-raiser.

One of the Howe hockey brothers was guest speaker on the night I attended .He  made  lewd comments about  deceased former  Federal Minister of State,Judy  La Marsh.

The room full of dignitaries , men and women ,were throughly entertained. Laughed heartily.

I left the room. Call me what you like. I was disgusted.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you sure that the speaker wasn't one of the Hull (not Howe) "hockey brothers" (i.e. Dennis)?

Anonymous said...

Bobby Hull was a great speaker who always shaved the line carefully. He stayed with us a few times and never made a mistake with the kids around. The closest he got was a story about a cow jumping over a fence and causing " an udder disaster ". I heard from the bus driver the next afternoon - she thought it was funny,

Tim the Enchanter said...

"The Town pays for Councillors to attend. It's a fund-raiser."

What's this "the Town pays" nonsense?
You're sending these people to a dinner with my taxpayer dollars.

"Ah, c'mon Tim - it's for charity"

I'll decide what to do with my charity dollars thank you very much.
If councillors want to support the Police dinner or any of the many other worthy charities out there then they can buy a ticket like anyone else.

I pay taxes so that the Town can function and provide the necessary services.
End of.

Anonymous said...

Mark and Marty Howe... They were good players.

Anonymous said...

21:48
All that despite the disclaimer by Council when approached to contribute a modest stipend to the Food Pantry that " We do not support charities "
Yeah, sure.......
Other towns do. Aurora tends to copy their weirder ideas, not the simple ones.

Tim the Enchanter said...

@8:19

Charitable giving is an entirely subjective personal decision.
Each of us must decide to when and if to make a donation.

A few Police Dinner tickets aren't a budget buster but they represent the lack of understanding and respect for the taxpayer and taxpayer funds that so often typifies wasteful municipal spending.

The money I send to the Town is still my money - it doesn't now belong to the Town.

Should the taxpayers pay for charity dinner tickets?
No.

Because it puts the Town in the position of determining what defines a "worthy" cause.
In other words - the favour business.

This council is certainly an improvement over the previous but they need to get out of the favour business.

Spending $9K to get a cell tower legal opinion on top of our own solicitor's opinion was a favour.

The Petch House spending was a favour.

The proposed Heritage District is a favour that has already cost about $70K for a study.

The proposed Heritage Park is a favour that could potentially cost millions.

The clear garbage bag initiative is a $30K favour.

They are favours because for the most part they are nothing more than financial grease for special interest squeaky wheels, that offer nothing other than subjective grandiose musings of "just think how wonderful it will be" as a justification.

Fiscal responsibility be damned.

The taxpayers deserve better than "we've got the money we may as well spend it".

To put it another way.
Show me a town that can afford to fund these favours and I'll show you a town that's collecting too much tax.