Condescending councillors and scornful editorialists
By Peter Ewart
Thursday, January 13, 2011 03:44 AM
By Peter Ewart
I have a disagreement, but no quarrel, with those on Prince George City Council and in the media who support spending substantial city funds on the new RCMP building. They have their views, I have mine.
But I do have a quarrel with any city councillor or newspaper editorialist who speaks in tones dripping with scorn and sarcasm about the efforts of ordinary citizens to oppose what they see as unnecessary and reckless spending by Council on this building.
Instead of applauding the civic spirit of these volunteers who, on their own time and at their own expense, gathered signatures in an attempt to have a referendum, one city councillor condescendingly claimed to have "little time" for the arguments of the opponents of the new building.
In addition, a newspaper editorial accused opponents of wearing "ear muffs" and being "silly", and that they should "move on" and stop raising questions about the "alternate approval process", a concern, they allege, that will only "waste taxpayer's money".
But are the arguments of the opponents of the project so easily dismissed?
Let's look at some facts. The cost of the proposed RCMP building is estimated at $38.9 million. If interest charges are taken into account, this cost will balloon to $70 million over 20 years.
Put in per capita terms, this amounts to nearly $1000 for each man, woman and child currently living in the city. As the mayor himself has indicated, this will amount to the largest single expenditure in the history of the municipality.
No small change. Especially when we take into account that, as a result, the city's total debt will now mushroom to $158 million.
And then let's look at the historical context. For the last several years, much of the world has been caught up in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Today, this economic situation, especially in Europe and North America, remains extremely volatile.
The economies of countries like Greece have virtually collapsed, and others such as Portugal and Spain are teetering on the brink of disaster. Governments, after bailing out banks and shovelling truckloads of money to big business, are now massively cutting programs and services for pensioners, workers, students, and other sectors of people, sparking huge protests in the streets. The fiscal situation of many towns and villages is in chaos.
In California, Nevada and all over the United States, tent cities of homeless people have sprung up as a result of home foreclosures, job losses, and poverty. Real unemployment is approaching 20% and over 42 million Americans are now on food stamps. All of this is happening, of course, after the U.S. government, using trillions of taxpayer funds, bailed out the Wall Street banks and financial institutions that, through their recklessness and greed, triggered the crisis in the first place.
In the U.S., dozens of state governments are now in danger of defaulting on debt payments, and hundreds of municipalities may become insolvent in the near future, crushed by huge debt loads and shrinking tax bases. At the federal level alone, the U.S. government is $14 trillion in the hole, a massive debt that, unless there is a massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar or outright default, will be impossible to ever pay off.
Across Canada, the manufacturing sector, including forestry, auto and steel, has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs over the last few years, resulting in severe fiscal problems for many municipalities. For example, the town of Mackenzie, just an hour and a half drive from here, had all of its main mills and forestry operations shut down, causing much hardship for residents and difficulty for the municipality.
And Prince George itself has seen its share of mill closures and layoffs.
Lately, at least locally, there has been some improvement with more lumber sales to China and so on. But, given the global, and especially the North American, economic situation, it is foolhardy to think that we are "out of the woods". Indeed, given the extreme volatility, further calamity could easily happen, whether it be radical devaluation of the U.S. dollar, hyperinflation, another softwood trade war, "double-dip recession", or other serious economic and fiscal dislocation.
So is it any wonder that there are citizens in Prince George, a town whose tax revenues have considerable dependence on an export-based economy, who are questioning the City's spending priorities and debt load during these difficult and trying economic times?
Is it any wonder that many question the "alternate approval process", which puts all the onus on ordinary citizens acting as volunteers, while, as Eric Allen, who led the citizens' opposition, has put it, the other side "sits back and smokes a cigar" quite smug in the knowledge that the process practically ensures that approval is "in the bag".
Why is there such a fear about having a referendum on a big ticket item like the RCMP building? The next municipal election is only 11 months away. The question could easily have been added to the ballot, and then we would have truly known what voters thought about the idea.
As economic events unfold in the coming years, or to put it another way, "the chickens come home to roost", those councillors and editorialists who are so scornful and condescending today towards civic-minded citizens who are concerned about spending, may themselves end up the object of scorn tomorrow.
Many voters have long memories. And so do many readers.
Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca
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Posted by: muckermike on January 13 2011 8:01 AM