Feature Article February 26, 2004
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Mazinaw Musings - Waiting for the third shoe to drop
Third Shoe? Yes the third; we have a strangely constructed political animal in Canada. Our democracy is a three-legged creature with legs tearing off in conflicting directions and with each foot encased in an expensive shoe.
One shoe has already hit the floor with a bang that is reverberating across our land. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been skimmed from our hard earned taxes to enrich those who don't deserve it. No need to go into details; the news media and loyal opposition are generously making particulars public. It has shaken my faith in a major political party and the integrity of elected Members of Parliament and senior civil servants. I am more cynical than ever of this leg and shoe.
The second shoe is dropping and will have repercussions across our province. The recently defeated Ontario government lied about how much money we owed and the newly elected one is frantically backpedaling on promises that catapulted it into power. We are supposedly being consulted about how we want the debt paid off but without waiting for all our input we are being billed. I see from my latest Hydro One electrical bill we will start paying more for electricity on April 1st, an ironical date for those of us who enjoy playing April fool jokes. This is to help pay off the debts from bungled repairs to nuclear power plants and having hired an overpaid and excessive bureaucracy to run the system, many of whom had friends in government. As promised, our taxes are not being raised yet, but we can expect more increases in the cost of services provided by various Ontario Government agencies.
Privatizing moneymaking agencies like the LCBO and increasing access to gambling casinos are just two possibilities being pondered. For the life of me I cannot understand why one would sell an agency that is bringing in a profit or increase family agonies by providing more opportunities for gambling addiction that skims family money needed for food and shelter. I am cynical enough to wonder what friends of our MPPs are lined up for these windfalls. It is a good thing we don't run our personal lives that way.
And the third shoe, the municipal one, where is it? Already on the way down in the big cities like Toronto where patronage computer deals soaked up millions in taxpayers' dollars. Other large Canadian cities are also cash strapped from excessive waste and lack of planning during the past.
Where are the little slippers on the three Frontenac Townships' feet? Hopefully securely buckled, but I worry. The main responsibilities of small rural municipalities are: taking out the garbage, sweeping the roads, providing limited physical protection, monitoring cemeteries, taking their ill to city hospitals and flooding rinks during the winter. Property taxes and diminishing grants from the bigger boys pay for these services. Hopefully our elected councilors, our neighbours, are wary of dipping into the trough, as have their senior brethren in the other legs. I see this slipper dropping with less of a bang but still shaking us.
Taxpayers are being squeezed for more money and the three squeezers are frantically trying to place the blame on either or both of the other two legs. Our gaunt local leg, compared to the other two inflated thighs, has little kick within the political body, but many residents are already at their limit for paying taxes and fees. The third shoe will certainly be dropped by municipal councils but hopefully with only a murmur in consideration of their vigilant neighbours.
