Whose interests are being served?
By Letter to the Editor on May 27, 2021.
Editor:
Dale Leier’s May 22 letter discussed “intricacies of municipal finance” and “higher taxes” suggesting voters change “voting preferences.” I concluded long ago someone or something hellish more omnipotent than our “elected” control government administrations at all levels – my “voice” every three or four years means diddley squat.
The perfect example is council’s recent unanimous approval of a councillor Crowson motion – the e-scooter pilot project. A Herald poll said 92 per cent of Lethbridge’s ratepayers did not approve of that motion.
Will it go ahead? Bet the house on it. Another Crowson motion earlier this year gave away $435,000 of public money to a small group of citizens to launch a private investigation (can you believe it!) into a matter clearly non-municipal – in fact a federal criminal matter which to date has blown away $100,000,000 – another outrageous example of an unaccountable, administrative engine with the throttle wide open, throwing your money around like candy off a float in a parade.
It’s crap like that with zero benefit to the larger community your “elected official” fails you as its representative. Some believe, like departing councillor Miyashiro that what ratepayers need is a “nudge” to get us buying what he/they thinks best for us.
Within the last two years a travesty of misspent public finds came to fruition along South University Drive where hundreds of plants and trees were placed in wide concrete stone filled heat sinks.
I bleed for the stressed plants who’ll die an unnatural death when all the water that’ll be dumped on them, which we’re told is in such “short supply”, doesn’t save them.
What that stupid, needless never-ending baby-sitting project will look like when weeds start popping up around the rocks and curbs is totally predictable.
Mr. Leier’s letter asked “whose interests are being served here.” The answer – those connected to a job for life, followed by wonderfully indexed pensions all slugged out in the backrooms by tough union negotiators. You’ll rarely find among that nobility a restaurant, hardware, hair salon, thrift store labourer who may never own a home they can call their own.
Alvin W. Shier
Lethbridge
-1
Yes, the $435,000 is a hard pill to shallow. Wonder how an audit would read on that one? The same as the $100,000,000?
While we continue to hear Albertans whining about what their towns and cities are doing with their property taxes they watch Jason Kenney slash $9.4 billion off their rich friends corporate taxes that could have been used to off set this and don’t say a word.
When Peter Lougheed was collecting proper royalties and taxes we didn’t hear this whining . He was running the province properly and making certain our property taxes were maintained at a reasonable level , like Alaska and Norway are doing.
Gee I wonder who we should be blaming for treating Albertans like morons, when they were the ones who allowed it to happen.
Both urban and rural municipal funding cuts by the Kenney UCP have affected us all. Our rural municipal district reeve has stated clearly, that our taxes will increase because of these funding cuts and certain services will be either reduced or cut. Although we are willing to pay our fair share, we wonder re: ineffective corporate tax cuts for those who could well afford to pay a bit more tax, taxpayers money going to $billion dollar iffy pipelines, the $4.7 billion corporate welfare handout which may have largely left the province, cheap open-pit coal mining land leases, us taxpayers probably being on the hook to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells, for our rural municipality $hundreds of thousands of unpaid taxes by the oil and gas sector has been given a break…. no wonder voting intentions are leaning toward other politics in Alberta…the AB NDP, the Wildrose Independent Party and the Alberta Party.
Strangely enough the rich weren’t asking Kenney to slash their taxes this was his idea. He used the lie that it would create jobs when those of us from the world of finance knows it only creates richer CEOs.
Don’t forget last Dec. they cut taxes by another 2% , 4% in total, which added another $4.7 billion in lost taxes to our woes , which is where I get the $9.4 billion. Of course they are only interested in buying votes and they are making average Albertans foot the Bill for them, just like Ralph Klein did.
Now watch us get attacked by these ignorant fellow seniors who can’t handle the truth because they aren’t man enough.
Squandering $435,000 of our money on an issue that has been more than dealt with by the Provincial and Federal Gov. is reason enough to *not* vote for Belinda Crowson.
Hear Hear!!
what is the 100 million being referenced? who are the small group of citizens referenced?