Cabinet minister Ida Chong had a tough sell Tuesday to a hostile crowd at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention. Chong, along with deputy minster Don Fast, tried to pitch Premier Christy Clark’s promise of a ‘municipal auditor general’ – a watchdog to check the bottom line on, basically, the hundreds of local politicians gathered and listening in. Chong, B.C.’s Minister of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development, spent much of the first 48 of the 60-minute panel trying to calm the nervous, angry politicians. A few rude questions later, and the panel was shut down with more than a dozen people still lined up to grill the minister. The local politicians said they’re already prohibited from running deficits, and they’re already audited every year. Chong countered that ‘limited numbers’ of audits would be of the ‘value-for-money’ variety. “Why don’t we have a ‘value-for-money’ audit for the municipal auditor general?” heckled one of the crowd. The idea surfaced when Clark made the MAG pledge during her run for the B.C. Liberal leadership – but Tuesday Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan called it a “thoughtless campaign promise. “‘Will the province intervene, how much will it cost, how much can we expect taxpayers to pay for this?” asked the mayor. Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore said he expected lots of resistance Thursday morning when the UBCM delegates will decide where they stand about the proposed municipal watchdog. “I think a lot of people will be there to speak against it,” said Moore, the UBCM’s Metro Vancouver representative. “A lot of local governments question this - ‘Where’s the need for this?’ and ‘Why?’”
3 comments:
I think the answer to Mr. Moore's question is rather simple. The need has arisen because of taxpayer concerns about possible fiscal mismanagement in their municipalities and Regional Districts. It seems to me those that are enjoying taxpayer-funded largesse would have the most complaint about the taps perhaps running dry.
If you blindly trust that your local government is doing every thing it can with every penny, then this won't be an issue. But when you see money being spent on stuff that you find questionable, then you will have a number to call.
This is good for taxpayers and transparency. Now if we can only get the Provincial Government into the realm of equal transparency, and then the feds.....
very well said Anonymous.
This is good for taxpayers and transparency.
And no I well not trust our local Government blindly -
When public involvement is controlled from the top, it is always subject to being ignored. It certainly cannot be relied upon as a meaningful check on government decision making.
We need bottom-up solutions--they are the only sort that we can rely on--and these will not be easily achieved with a crippled electoral system
This just goes to prove how most politicians at the local level want to be free from having their actions reviewed.These same politicians have almost completed 3 years and think they know best.
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