Saturday, March 10, 2007

Our Council of Hypocrites

Oshawa City Council has been pushing for a general vote because they feel it doesn't matter whether individual communities within Oshawa have local council representation through the ward system.

To this end, of course, they gerrymandered a question guaranteed to produce "apparent" community support for the general vote and then refused to provide information prior to the vote so that voters could discuss the merits of the ward vs. general vote sytems of electing members of the Oshawa City Council so that they might make an informed choice on the question.

So hypocritically, on the same night they were adapting motions to move further to the general vote, they were also passing motions to ask the Provincial Government to protect Oshawa's ward system representation on the Durham District Board of Education who had opened up a vacant Trustee Seat to all residents within the jurisdiction of the Board.

The result of this was that candidates residing outside of Oshawa entered the trustee race for the seat vacated by a person elected by Oshawa residents. While Oshawa politicians felt it important to protect Oshawa's representation on the Durham District Board of Education, they didn't at all feel that it was necessary to protect the representation of residents from all sections of the city on City Council.

Such hypocrisy. On the one hand, for city council they say it doesn't matter where one lives to represent the interests of voters, and on the other, for the Durham Board of Education, they say it does. And all in the same meeting.

They gotta let us know! Is their general vote system better or is it not?

I do wish that city hall politicians could make up their minds on the issue. They surely can't be saying that ward voting is best for the Board of Education but is not best for City Council...or could they?

Maybe they can! It's not a matter of what council is thinking about...it's a matter of whether they are thinking at all!

Oh! Now I got it! The general vote is best when it's "self serving" for city politicians in insuring them lifetime seats on council...otherwise, it's not so good!

I guess the motivation provided by a salary plus perks of close to a half million dollars over a 4 year term can blind incumbents to the real job of councillors, that is making decisions for the good of the city and its citizens...not for making "self-serving" decisions bad for the city but best for themselves!

Wake up Oshawa! Don't let the politicians pull this one on us!

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