Public support and compliance is essential to a government being able to accomplish their goals. But when the public trust is broken, what happens? How is it rebuilt? How do our current leaders respond?
Occasionally they take responsibility. Sometimes they deflect by pointing out mistakes others make to hide their own mistakes. Or they dig in and insist they are on the right path despite public outcry. Do they take responsibility? Or do they lash out and blame the little guy?
A recent SD57 school board bombshell decision to “begin the process” to rename Kelly Road Secondary School is an example of a group of trusted elected officials making a big mistake.
Instead of responding to public outcry (some reactionary, but most reasonable and respectful) by repealing the motion at the April 7 meeting, they refused to read even a single letter that the public sent during the public input portion of the board meeting, even though there was time and many letters were sent. How does that match the board’s stated guiding principles “to be transparent, open-minded, consultative, committed, respectful of diversity?”
You dropped the ball, trustees.
You need to do a lot better than this.
Faced with COVID-19, swimming pools were closed across the province, which was sensible. However, what about the wisdom of closing all the parks and outdoor recreation to locals? How about the local farmers markets? There is an old saying that the cure may be worse than the disease and I think we need to begin thinking of smart ways to live in a pandemic situation. Surely a creative way could be found to keep outdoor parks, recreation areas and the farmers markets open. (But, please don’t charge overtime to think about this, City of PG senior admin.)
In both the case of pandemic preparedness and wildfires, our governments have spent money to get advice on preparing for them. However, very little prevention work has happened since the Kelowna fires destroyed over 200 buildings in 2003.
Preparing for a pandemic that would come at some point was strongly advised but here we are, in 2020, Canada, a developed country, without sufficient PPE, medical equipment, or supplies to respond properly. The Globe and Mail (April 9) reports that in a 2006 document there were credible warnings. Then “A 2010 federal audit flagged problems with the management of Canada’s emergency stockpile of medical equipment; a 2018 assessment of the H1N1 swine flu outbreak a decade earlier raised concerns about ventilator shortages; and a 2019 study led by a team of global scientists questioned the ability of many countries, including Canada to prevent, detect, and respond to a major outbreak.”
So the ordinary person told to pay their taxes is supposed to obey, not complain, not read opposing viewpoints (according to the Trudeau government’s most recent effort at establishing a Ministry of Truth) and report on their neighbour? The only tool we seem to have had is the blunt one of shutting down nearly the entire economy. Seriously?
In the case of the SD57 trustees motion, the public was lectured to be respectful, when the trustees themselves were not. In the case of COVID-19, it is hard to respect a government that tells everyone to stay at home, yet so many things that only a government can do were not done. That is dropping the ball.
As we continue to isolate and wash our hands, let’s begin to think long term. Seeing as we enjoy spending the money of future taxpayers, we should plan to prepare for future catastrophes. The least we could do is build fireguards around cities, ensure our pandemic warehouses are properly equipped and develop pandemic best practices.
The school board?
They need to demonstrate that they can think creatively and respectfully.
Here’s to hoping.
