The federal Minster of Defence a few years ago held a press conference
surrounded by bigwigs from the Departments of Defence and Finance. They
were there to announce the decision to not proceed with a large
expenditure for new equipment and personnel. Canadian Armed Forces had
been lobbying hard to get budget approval for this huge initiative. A
quote from the Minister has stayed with me since: “Sometimes, you have
to tell the Generals, ‘No!’”
The public demands it and every candidate running for office claims confidently to be "fiscally responsible." The City of Nanaimo chart, above, shows the allocations of a typical household's property tax and user fee payments to the City treasury.
It illustrates that 53% of the revenues collected are applied to only 3 areas of City activities: Police, Fire and Engineering / Public Works.
Question then to candidates running in the July 8 by-election:
In you view, are these proportions about right, or are they out of whack? And supplementary,
if you feel they are disproportionate how would you adjust them? And regardless of your first answer, if you were elected to Council and the time came to be the steward of public funds and review expenditure appeals from City Departments, and oversee ongoing negotiations with the unions involved
would you be prepared to "tell the Generals, ‘No!’?”
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