Last Thursday's B.C. Supreme Court decision giving council the go ahead to punish Brian Skakun ensured this council ended its effective term with a whimper not a bang.
After millions of dollars in legal and administrative expense to the taxpayer, and the subsequent legal chill that descended over city hall like an early morning fog in P.G., the Skakun affair has come to symbolize all that is wrong with Mayor Dan Rogers and the current council.
As with many issues over the past three years, when the situation called for decisive action and leadership, Rogers and company was missing in action.
After proposing four resolutions at the recent B.C. Union of Municipalities Conference dealing with the issues of councilor responsibility to maintain confidentiality and strengthening penalties for councilors who breach that responsibility, neither Rogers nor any of his councilors with the ironic exception of Skakun bothered to show up to speak to the motions.
Councilor Murray Krause, who also sits on the executive of the UBCM failed to speak to the motions "because the timing was off". Huh?
Councilor Garth Frizzell, Chair of the Policy Advisory committee that drafted the motions was also a no show.
The excuse offered by Krause was that most of the other councilors (with the exception of Shari Green who was enroute to P.G. to announce her mayoral bid), were busy lining up to kiss the rings of provincial cabinet ministers in attendance at the conference. Meanwhile, conveniently ignoring the fact that as the largest city in northern B.C., P.G. has no problems getting an audience with these same ministers at any time and does not have to resort to "speed dating" ministers to be heard.
Then to add insult to injury, Mayor Rogers in an unprecedented move recused himself from chairing the meeting called to determine what measures if any will be taken against Skakun. By surrendering the chair to acting mayor and candidate Shari Green, Rogers has afforded us all the opportunity to see what kind of a mayor Green would be in tackling a tough issue should she win.
As recent surveys by the Chamber of Commerce, an online poll by The Citizen, and the unceremonious dumping of Gordon Campbell would suggest, people are yearning for leadership and are fed up with politicians who say one thing on the campaign trail, and then promptly ignore their words once elected.
Some bright and committed people got elected to council in 2008, but with one or two notable exceptions, most disappeared over the past three years.
This has been a council racked by dissension, split votes and a marked failure to address many of the issues occupying the minds and wallets of the citizens of Prince George.
Let's hope the mayor and council elected on Nov. 19 will do a better job of coming together as a team to address the issues and challenges facing our fair city.
Prince George is on the cusp of an economic boom. The choices we make on election day could see us left standing at the station as the prosperity train leaves without us.
With only a 32.27 per cent turnout and 16,946 of 52,509 eligible voters bothering to vote in 2008, it is critical that you take the time to make your voice heard, or live with the consequences.
-- Prince George Citizen
