Where there is smoke there is fire. We have seen a lot of thick black smoke bellowing out of city hall lately, and strange kinds of responses to fire alarm bells ringing. There seems to be only two of our councillors sounding the alarms, but the rest of them, including the mayor, appear to be blind, deaf, asleep or just simply indifferent.
Here we go … no audit on the mayor’s expense claims … no internal auditor … no further discussion on utility bills; all this despite many red flags already raised and many complaints from the residents. Doesn’t the council realize that the two that are ringing the alarm bells also speak for the citizens?
A direct vote by the residents (not binding on council) on these very serious and alarming concerns have been blocked by a 4-2 vote of our council – even though it would not have a cost to the city to do so.
Looks like in the opinion of one councillor, the citizens need to be educated on the questions. Are we that dumb? Any child knows that if you see lots of smoke bellowing – it is time to call the fire department – no education is required! Others had equally puzzling reasons to block the putting of the questions to the voter in this upcoming by-election.
In light of the scandals we have and are currently witnessing in the Senate in Ottawa and in the Alberta government with Alison Redford, and with only God knows who else, do we really believe that we in St. Albert are immune from like activity?
For the most part, we deserve the government we have – we voted them in. Let us not make a mistake again in this byelection. We need someone who is not afraid to stand up and do the right thing; this time around, we need a highly experienced and proven person of integrity and courage who we can truly trust – based on our past experience and not on fluffy campaign ads and ambiguous promises.
Steve Stone, St. Albert
