Governments must just love the spending hysteria Christmas brings with ordinary citizens and taxpayers being encouraged to go out on a daily basis, and spend, spend, spend, even if most of them probably cannot afford it.
After all that’s precisely what federal, provincial, regional and municipal bureaucrats tell our politicians all the time, and are busiest through the continually extended Christmas season as they prepare their budgets for our politicians to ultimately approve, after weeks of meetings, discussions and deliberations, whilst they allow the politicians to pretend they are showing economic integrity by imposing a few cost savings that just may buy them enough votes to get them re-elected.
It is truly a sham, and worst of all it is we taxpayers who will be made to pay their federal, provincial, regional and municipal tax increases, and who have absolutely no say in the budget deliberations even when we are allegedly given occasional public meetings to question our elected politicians and our unelected staffs.
Here in Niagara Region, with its Regional and 12 municipal councils, just how many residents who have appealed higher taxes by attending meetings, have ever, ever seen their objections recognized in any meaningful way in any approved final budgets?
Whilst I try to believe there are still some honest politicians around, and even some honest bureaucrats who are actually working a full-time job, by far the biggest sham of all is that both politicians and bureaucrats are both serving the best interests of the communities who elect them and employ them.
There are an increasing number of articles blaming our elected politicians for all our growing political woes and I can’t argue with them.
The concept of ‘career politicians’ must be the most undemocratic concept ever, and the continued calls for increases in their ‘stipends’ nothing more than an admission that ‘public service’ is no longer a consideration but demanding a more generous salary, with benefits, is.
It’s almost as though they wish to play catch-up with their bureaucratic colleagues and so find that supporting their staff becomes a better bet than protecting the best interests of those who elect them.
But their staff have been doing it for so much longer whilst those who employ them and pay them have ignored just what has been happening for far too many years in the mistaken belief that they were merely following the wishes of those we elect.
The concept of ‘career politicians’ must be the most undemocratic concept ever
What they have been doing, probably for decades rather than years, is making changes and amendments to the Municipal Act putting them in a position to take control of governance and, at the same time, ensuring they are protected from any liability from their recommendations. How often do we hear of any bureaucrat being sacked or even censured?
It would be interesting to see a comparison between those fired, or ‘let go’, annually, in the private sector, compared to government bureaucrats. And of course, the redundancy packages or settlements in government are rarely publicized on the grounds of ‘privacy’. Privacy? What law is in place stating that taxpayers are not allowed to know exactly how, and why, every cent of our tax dollars are spent?
Similarly, it would be nice to get a breakdown on all these job gains that are made, often by politicians wanting to show what a great job they are doing. Why don’t they show the breakdown of public sector and private sector job gains each time? Isn’t that a rather important factor?
Another strange phenomenon is those recent reports about CAOs being the only member of a city staff who a council can hire and if necessary, fire. Really?
So just who has the authority to hire the increasing numbers of government bureaucrats on a council staff and why do our elected politicians have no say?
A recent report stated that a Niagara-on-the-Lake councilor submitted a motion on the agenda during budget deliberations, proposing that four staff hirings should be frozen as a way to reduce the proposed budget. She only wanted it to be a part of the deliberations.
Not only was this refused, but the item was struck from the agenda by the mayor.
If even our elected councilors are muzzled, what chance does any citizen of that community have of anyone in city hall even listening to them.
During this budget ‘season’ every government department staff prepare recommendations to submit to the budget process, all the facts and figures are there and at the end of it all a budget is ‘approved’ by politicians, be they federal, provincial, regional or municipal.
It should not take much effort to add a new statistic to every budget, every year, stating the precise and single amount of the operational budget that pays for staffs’ salaries and benefits, proposed new hirings, plus all the office supplies and other equipment bought for their use, and express it as a percentage of every approved budget.
After all, it is the taxpayer’s money. Why are we not allowed to know?
