Dear John...

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: October 21, 2008

There's more proof that the provincial government could care less about open communications with communities. The City of Vernon recently received an Oct. 9 letter from Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon, who was responding to a July 18 request from council for a meeting to discuss highway matters. "My schedule does not permit me to attend any of the regular council meetings listed in the schedule you provided," wrote Falcon to Mayor Wayne Lippert. Perhaps Falcon was too busy smiling for the cameras as the bulldozers knocked down the toll booths on the Coquihalla? Seriously, though, three months to send a Dear John letter is absolutely ridiculous. But while Falcon doesn't have the time to come to Vernon, he does graciously make himself available to meet with council. "As you know, the next annual Union of B.C. Municipalities convention will be held this September. I would be pleased to address your's and council's concerns there," wrote Falcon.

Now that leaves one wondering when the letter — dated Oct. 9 — was actually written because this year's UBCM ran Sept. 23 to 26. If the letter was inked before then, why wasn't it popped in the mail until October? And if Falcon is referring to the 2009 UBCM, there may be a problem. Primarily, there is a civic election in less than a month and many of Vernon's current council will be gone either through retirements or their names not rising to the top of the ballot. It should also be pointed out that there will be a provincial election in May, so unless Falcon is some kind of soothsayer, how does he know that he will be re-elected and actually be attending the UBCM in September 2009 in Vancouver?

I'm not sure if this is a related issue, but it's been suggested the city hasn't accessed provincial infrastructure grants because of its often vocal stance against the Liberal government. "We have a reputation in the media of attacking other levels of government. We have a reputation of being difficult to get along with," said Lippert recently. It would be easy to blame Coun. Barry Beardsell for this situation as he often appears to enjoy turning the screws on the government. But Beardsell is just one voice and any time a letter of concern has been sent to the province, it has been done through a majority vote of council. When a letter is sent, it represents the city, not Beardsell.

And if there is any truth to senior government officials blackballing Vernon because of positions council has taken, that's a very troubling situation for our democratic society. After all, mayor and council were elected to represent the interests of the citizens of Vernon, and occasionally those interests — whether it is highways, casinos, meat regulations, etc. — will not reflect those of the provincial government. The Liberals may not be happy with the resolutions coming out of city council chambers, but that's fine, they don't have to be. But what they do have to do, is be fair to all communities when funding is being provided for infrastructure projects. And the reason for that is all communities pump money into their coffers.

There is no room for one level of government to be vindicative against another just because they share different views, and one would hope that's not happening between Victoria and Vernon.But if Vernon council really wants to pursue the matter further, Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon has time for them at the next UBCM.