I was reading through the archives of the May 6 1977 Vancouver Sun and came across an interesting article about the GVRD written thirty five years ago. It reads: “Delta MLA Walter Davidson has asked Municipal Affairs Minister Hugh Curtis to disband the Greater Vancouver Regional district as it is presently constituted.
In an open letter to the minister, the Socred MLA calls the GVRD a costly bureaucratic and ineffective organization. As taxpayers, we can no longer afford the stupidity and extravagance of financing an organization which refuses to accept even it’s basic common objectives.
The Socred MLA says Curtis should disband the present regional district and in keeping with it’s party’s commitment return to local government that authority which has been the traditional responsibility of local government.
The Delta MLA says petty politics have destroyed both the effectiveness and the credibility of the GVRD. In another letter, this one to GVRD chairman Major Jack Campbell of Port Coquitlam Davidson asks how massive expenditures of public funds on an organization like the GVRD can be justified.
Ironically enough, thirty five years later we have an editorial in the Vancouver Province expressive concerns about the GVRD now known as Metro Vancouver after their insane proposal to start a regional sales tax to fund their extravagance. Perhaps we should have acted on Walter Davidson’s’ letter thirty five years ago.
Normally decentralization of power is a good thing. Yet duplication, bureaucracy and extravagance are not. If a local mayor wants to create a municipal sales tax in their city, just watch how far that gets them. What we need is fiscal responsibility not reckless spending and insider trading.
Yes, you're right.
ReplyDeleteOne of the worst Lower Mainland Governance issues is the fact that NO area will collaborate with, and help any other area. Something for PoCo...? Then, gimme the same, or better, or I'll vote it down forever. Mass transit thru Kerrisdale? Never; the ridiculous snobs who moved there six months ago scream & howl in rage. No one will do anything for West Van., aren't they all SO rich they need nothing...?
On & on, ad nauseum...
A single, over-arching organization was supposed to fix the Municipal War Zones, but as you said it has had zero effect. Just another layer of bureaucrats, each @ over $100,000 p/a.
"Public pays huge markup for carbon offsets, records show."
ReplyDelete"School boards, hospitals and other public-sector entities in British Columbia are paying far higher prices for carbon offsets than is justified by the market, according to the financial records of the Pacific Carbon Trust."
"Data that the Crown agency has long withheld, but which is to be released by government this week, shows that corporations such as TimberWest Forest Co., Encana Corp., and International Forest Products Ltd., have been selling carbon credits to the Pacific Carbon Trust for prices ranging from $9 to $19 a ton."
"At the same time, however, public sector agencies have been paying $25 a ton to buy offsets from the Pacific Carbon Trust."
"The discrepancy has sparked an internal government debate over the fairness of the price structure, and outside of government, it’s raising questions about whether the Pacific Carbon Trust should be scrapped."
"B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake said Wednesday that his government remains committed to carbon neutrality, but is reviewing the Pacific Carbon Trust."
“Having those numbers now, we need to take a look at options to make sure not only is the Pacific Carbon Trust getting good value, but also the organizations paying into them, the public-sector organizations, are getting good value,” he said."
http://tinyurl.com/acao42t (Globe&Mail)
This is the *Green* economy, hard-pressed BC families should blindly support? What shy-ster-ish nonsense, we've all been savagely bilked.