I have a friend named Albert who needed to renovate his house. He had the choice of doing the repairs himself, or paying someone else to do it for him. Albert calculated the time and money it would cost him to do the work on his own, and then he called three different contractors to get estimates on how much they’d charge to do the work. After he’d gotten the estimates, Albert still had the choice of either hiring a contractor to do the work or do the repairs himself. He wasn’t under any obligation to hire the contractors if he didn’t want to.
So it is with Coun. Cam MacKay and his suggestion that the city determine how much it would cost to have a private company pick up our trash, instead of having city workers do it themselves. As Coun. MacKay pointed out himself, we would not be under obligations to accept any private waste company’s estimates; all he wants is to see whether the private sector could do it at a lower cost. It’s ridiculous to suggest, as local CUPE president David Graham does, that Coun. MacKay is insulting city workers by asking city administration to look into this. At best, Mr. Graham has jumped to an absurd conclusion, and at worst he’s being grossly unfair to Coun. MacKay.
No one is insulting city workers, who in any event are not responsible for the administrative decisions being made here. I’ve seen city staff come into Deer Ridge numerous times over the past year repairing local sidewalks and streets, and they’ve done their jobs with a minimum of disruption to the neighbourhood. They’re usually only there for a day or two, and I never see them again. When they come in for a longer period of time, like when they fixed Giroux Road last year, the road crews were gone when they said they’d be.
It’s foolish to assume the private sector is automatically more efficient than the public. The horrifically bloated and inefficient American health care system is proof that private companies can be just as incompetent as any government; it would also be a mistake to dismiss the idea of contracting out garbage pickup without actually looking into it. Coun. MacKay actively campaigned on trying to find savings for city taxpayers and curbing unnecessary spending at city hall. Even if you don’t agree with him, he deserves full credit for trying to live up to his promises.
Jared Milne, St. Albert
