Feature Article April 16, 2003
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April's Double WhammyUsually it's a double whammy, but with the reluctance of winter to leave this year we are getting a triple. The weather phenomenon we refuse to control by prudent living, and at times I muse about our involvement with the other two: anteing up our annual income tax, and paying the first installment of municipal taxes. Federal government advertisements, paid for by us, advocate early filing to get a refund, but I usually have an additional hefty payment! I cannot help thinking of how much of my income went toward buying unstable second hand submarines, maintaining outdated grounded helicopters and trying to trace 36,000 lost illegal and criminal refugees with a malfunctioning multimillion dollar computer system, etc. etc. It is easy to muse about government inefficiency - inefficient except when it comes to collecting my taxes. Sometimes I wonder how we function at all. Then I watch the rest of the world via television. Now I am the first to recognize that televised visions, as all news reports, are biased but it is all I have to compare.
We really are fortunate compared to many of our worldly brethren. Our citizens and hospitals may be temporarily restricted to prevent SARS from spreading, but compare that to the scenes broadcast from war- ravished and spartan hospitals in the eastern hemisphere. We are suffering from overeating and lack of exercise, but contrast that with having to walk miles for fresh water and food handouts. Our national airline is restricting operations while going broke but we don't have to depend upon old overloaded buses and trucks to get from A to B and we can move freely from A to B or anywhere else within our borders.
Grampa Jean in Ottawa, your cheque will be in the mail before the end of the month and with a little less complaining this year. But I do ask you to spend it more wisely.
Now Uncle Stan in Plevna and your brothers to the south what are your plans for my municipal taxes? There seems to be a dearth of long-term plans. Roads have been well maintained, but what if more are downloaded? The dumps are filling up and I see waste incineration is being considered but more efficient recycling ignored. Prestige battles with Kingston are being fought over long-term care and ambulance services. I hope these battles don't drain the financial resources from the front lines where every penny counts.
I understand we are to be left to our own resources to battle mosquitoes this spring and the threat of West Nile Virus. I realize that you cannot poison all our swamps to destroy larvae as is being done in some municipalities, but perhaps roadside ditches could be better drained and some written instructions distributed to help us cope with this newest threat.
I watch colonization creeping from the south and west. I hope you are planning to use some of my money to prevent mega dumps and quarries from contaminating our virgin area. Massive pig factories are battling their way north and east; are we legally ready to counter them? The municipality of Tweed wasn't. Water is being sucked out of Tweed and Perth for commercial profit at the expense of local needs. How safe is our supply from commercial overuse?
Our municipal elections are just a few months away and already there are indications that some good local politicians are not entering the race. To all who are considering local public service I would like to suggest a broad platform to include long term planning and protection of what we already have. The carnage in Iraq illustrates the results of outsiders coveting the natural treasures of an area.
