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The Citizen, 1989-08-23, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1989. Opinion Public business must be done in public One of the difficulties for politicians, particularly those who come to politics with business backgrounds, is that they must come to realize that government is not a business. Secrecy may be important in business but in government, it runs against the very nature of democracy. Not only must justice be done, in government, but it must seem to be done. And that lack of perception of fairness is what has many electors in Blyth steaming over the choosing of a new councillor last week. The successful candidate, Steven Sparling, seems very capable and is admired by many, but the way the decision was made hasn’t inspired much admiration. When the official vote was taken Thursday night, it was in open council as it should be. Butitwas obvious toeveryone in the room that the decision had been made long before the hands of the councillors went up in the official vote. Councillors had earlier met privately to discuss the three applications which had been submitted by the July 31 deadline. That, and the fact that council had passed over the next leading candidate from thelist of last November’s municipal election to choose someone who had not run in the election, has concerned many people. It is the sense that council is being treated like the board of a private corporation that is most disturbing, and not just in this one incident. There are, for example, a limited number of situations where council is authorized to go into “committee of the whole’ ’ or private session. These include the purchase of land, personnel matters and a very few other instances. Yet of late, Blyth council has been sitting in committee of the whole either before or after just about every monthly session. In addition, when council passes the minutes of past meetings at each session, there are almost always two or three meetings as well as the regular meeting, of which there has been no notice to the public or the press. Some of these may be routine business meetings such as the current sessions for revision of the village’s official plan but the fact remains provincial legislation calls for special meetings to be “published” which may mean nothing more than posted on a notice in the municipal office’s window but at least gives some public notice that an open council meeting is being held. Currently minutes of these meetings are not even being circulated to the media. It’s easy to criticize councillors because they are such sitting ducks and knowing how difficult their lives are makes it easy to understand how they would like to operate out of the glare of the public spotlight from time to time. Still, difficult as the job is, councillors must remember that they are representing the people and the people have a right to know how and why (and when) decisions are being made. Councillors have only to hark back a few months to how they felt before they ran for office about secrecy on the part of government. It’s fine for the village business to be run in as financially responsible way as a business but business’ closed-door secrecy can’t work in government. Cool waters Mabel’s Grill Government's spending has to come from somewhere Canadians from coast to coast are up in arms over the proposal of Michael Wilson to impose a goods and services tax of nine per cent on just about everything that moves in this country. Yet, while Canadians protest more taxes, a new Gallup poll released recently shows 49 per cent of Canadians support spending more government money to support day care facilities. And, many people are also against the cuts in subsidies to VIA Rail. The two positions show just why people like Mr. Wilson ignore the public opinion polls and do what they think is right for the people. Support for things like day care may be very worthy but the money has to come from somewhere. With a huge deficit already, we can’t borrow any more against the future. The government isn’t the tooth fairy. Ifwe want more, we’ll have to pay more and that may mean the proposed nine per cent tax looks like peanuts to what we finally end up with ... unless we modify our demands. There are people who will tell you that the important decisions in town are made down at the town hall. People in the know, however know that the real debates, the real wisdom reside down at Mabel 's Grill where the greatest minds in the town [if not in the country] gather for morning coffee break, otherwise known as the Round Table Debating and Filibustering So­ ciety. MONDAY: Who says Canadians aren’t enterprising when it comes to finding new ways to get money off tourists, Julia Flint was saying as she chuckled over the latest theft technique that’s apparently moved from Montreal to Toronto. Accord­ ing to the paper the crooks squirt ketchup on the unsuspecting tour- then tell him he’s bleeding and offer to help, then when he’s off guard they steal his money. Gee, said Hank Stokes, hope Michael Wilson doesn’t hear about it or it may become government policy. TUESDAY: Trust Toronto to take the electronic age to its trendy conclusion, Tim O’Grady was say­ ing this morning. He had been reading about the newest trend in Toronto restaurants: you use a facsimile machine to send in your order, then you arrive at the restaurant and your food is waiting for you in a special lineup reserved for Faxed orders. Ha! said Billie Bean, “I could go them one better.” After tasting the food in some of those restaurants I think they could send the food back through the Fax machine and nobody’d be able to taste the difference. WEDNESDAY: Well, said Billie, the government has finally suc­ ceeded in taxing all the sins. First it was booze and cigarettes, then they sold us lottery tickets and now Michael Wilson even expects hook­ ers to charge the nine per cent goods and services tax on their services. It’s enough, said Hank, to have people wanting to bring back Pierre Trudeau. At least he said the government had no place in the bedrooms of the nation. Yeh, said Ward Black but maybe that’s just because he never found a way to tax it. Well, said Tim, not being inclin­ ed to make use of such services he didn’t mind that tax but he thought it was adding insult to injury when he heard that even when you die you’re going to go on paying taxes: for your funeral. “Used to be nothing was sure but death and Continued on page 19 The Citizen P.O Box 429, BLYTH, Ont. NOM 1H0 Phone 523-4792 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, Ont. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario, by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $17 OO/yr ($38 00 Foreign). Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2pm - Brussels; Monday, 4 pm - Blyth We are not responsible for unsolicited newscripts or photographs Contents of The Citizen are © Copyright Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Walton and surrounding townships. 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