It's worth a try.
Delta's motion at the recent Union of B.C. Municipalities convention to get Victoria to stop suing local governments makes abundant sense, but I'm not so sure that's enough to get provincial politicians to bite.
The province's two-year-old Healthcare Cost Recovery Act is an ingenious way to boost sagging coffers in the capital.
The act allows Victoria to recoup the costs of providing costly medical care if it can find a negligent third party to stick with the bill.
It's not a bad idea - until the province begins suing civic governments to get that money.
Delta is named in at least three cases, the most high profile being one involving a former National Hockey League player who suffered severe injuries, including being in a coma for three weeks, after being assaulted at a North Delta nightclub five years ago.
I'm not so sure Delta can be held liable for what happens during a bar fight, so why the province is heading down that road is mystifying, but that's a debate for another day.
What stumps me in this particular instance is how one taxpayer-funded entity thinks it's a good idea to sue another taxpayer-funded entity.
As Mayor Lois Jackson, who put forward the motion that received the support of other B.C. municipalities at the UBCM convention late last month, rightly points out, this arrangement merely transfers money from one government pocket to another. And this would be done, more than likely, only after a protracted and costly legal battle waged between the two.
Any beleaguered taxpayer can see the folly in this situation, as does the local government that's on the receiving end of the lawsuit. But if you're the provincial government, and you're looking under every conceivable rock for revenue streams, I can see where it could be appealing.
Yet at some point those in Victoria have to acknowledge that one government suing another isn't beneficial to those who are ultimately paying the tab at both ends.
It's one thing to launch cost recovery lawsuits against individuals, businesses and others, and those might well make sense and bear the desired fruit, but when one government sues another, it's essentially suing itself.
Yes, there's more than one government, more than one bottom line and more than one election. But what they seem to have forgotten is there's only one taxpayer.
