Editor:
The Aug. 12 edition of the Optimist has two items that speak to the difficulty that seems to exist with all our governments behaving responsibly with our money.
The first is the story about the Ministry of Health suing the Delta police department. Both of these organizations are public bodies that are paid for exclusively by us taxpayers, so we are suing ourselves. I think that this is an outrage and heads should roll.
We have a government that is meant to oversee both of these bodies; someone in our government needs to make a decision and stop this stupidity.
I know the premier is new to the job, but surely she must realize that it is her job to stop the children from fighting. Using the courts to solve our internal problems is nothing but a waste of money.
The very fact the Ministry of Health thinks this is how to solve problems is a sure indication it does not understand its fiscal responsibilities.
The other item is a letter to the editor from Ed Ries commenting on the municipality's negotiations with its CUPE members and Delta's budget. I hope whoever is doing those negotiations has been given the instructions that the wage settlements cannot be in excess of the increase in the cost of living.
I can think of good reasons why it should be less and none why it should be more. Government employees at all levels seem to be under the impression their remuneration should be increasing annually without any consideration as to whether this is long term affordable and weak politicians voted in by an electorate that seems to misunderstand the big issues has resulted in out of control expenditures.
This is a problem of our times as government largesse with money that it does not have is causing major economic issues on much bigger stages than Delta, but it is sickening to watch here at the local level too.
Once upon a time public service meant just that, working for the good of the community with a relatively small remuneration, but with the satisfaction of working for the public good. We no longer have public service but rather an army of government employees with excessive compensation.
Apparently the more people are paid, the less good they are at their jobs! Certainly we no longer get value for money.
Duncan Hume
