Do we need more politicians? What about a poke in the eye with a sharp stick?
There are some answers you just know before the question is even posed, so there was some hesitation over whether to ask, as we did in last Friday's edition, if Delta council should be expanded beyond its current seven-member format.
The idea of throwing more politicians at anything is a non-starter for most people, however, when you look at the numbers in this case, you can begin to see where it's not that far-fetched of an idea. I'm not suggesting it will, or even should, happen, but the fact Delta is the largest municipality in the province with a mayor and just six councillors, and is bigger than several jurisdictions that have more council members, lends a certain credence to the expansion argument.
Given voters have to OK any increase, and politicians would be reluctant to even put such a question on the ballot, it's likely a moot point, but I can't help but chuckle when comparing the civic situation to what's taken place at senior government levels.
In 1972, there were 55 seats in the provincial legislature, a number that has since risen to 85, a more than 50 per cent increase over the last four decades. Also in 1972, we had 264 MPs, a figure that will jump to 338 once they get finished redrawing the current electoral map.
That's an almost 30 per cent hike.
I use 1972 as a reference point because that's the year Delta voters rejected a referendum calling for a larger council.
Since that time Delta has kept the same seven-member council despite seeing its population more than double.
We all know that two wrongs don't make a right, so a third wrong isn't likely to help matters either, but I see more validity in increasing civic numbers than the routine practice of doing so at senior levels.
With the power centralized in a select few, the additional MLAs and MPs we get every decade tend to be little more than dutiful soldiers. On the municipal front, however, two more councillors could actually change the balance, although their greatest benefit would be in sharing a growing workload when it comes to public events, calls and e-mails from constituents, and seats on all sorts of committees.
It's rather curious that Delta's population can increase, the compensation paid to its politicians can increase and their responsibilities can also increase, but somehow the line gets drawn when it comes to how many of them we should employ.
