Apparently the incumbent city councillor was elected for her platform of "no tax increases" and then later voted FOR a tax increase (to restore basic city services previously cut by the newly amalgamated city). Anyway, that was enough to convince a friend of mine to call her a liar, and cast her vote for somebody with no record at all.
I don't think it's fair to blame our sole city councillor for the overall greater costs since amalgamation. Rather, the blame would lie with Queens Park and their
funding cuts to municipalities. Then again, you could also lay the blame on Ottawa for cutting transfer payments to the provinces, but they did that so that they could save us from paying hundreds of millions of dollars to service the national debt, which essentially arose because baby boomers demanded services that we couldn't afford and didn't want to pay for. So, in the end, if you want to blame anybody, blame previous generations. If on the other hand you need the self-gratification of
punishing somebody over which you DO have some control, I suppose you
could punish the local councillor.
All I ask is that such actions be not be taken lightly, i.e., without awareness of your deeper reasons and the overall/historical context.
I think all the boasting about election promises made/kept is nothing but a distraction from issues that really affect our quality of life. City planning, infrastructure projects, promotion of local arts and businesses, city maintenance and beautification, environmental stewardship, collective transportation, protecton of citizens' rights against abusive or uncooperative corporations, THOSE are the kinds of things that really affect our quality of life, and therefore THOSE are the things that we must hold politicians accountable for!
In that context, do tax increases (or rebates) really have an impact on our quality of life in the long run? Or is it like the 0.5% raise you get that makes you feel a little bit better, but... really doesn't make a difference?
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