Dishonest people must be punished

Everything the present Penticton city council and the previous council touches or has touched turns into barnyard droppings.

At the recent public forum held at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre the figure $200,000 was disclosed. Apparently that is the amount of money taxpayers are obligated to pay Trio Marine to break their contract with the city.

What is also of serious concern; are there other city obligations to Trio that the taxpayers are unaware of?

Recently taxpayers discovered that Trio has been negotiating with the City for five years. If that is the case, a commission of judicial enquiry with subpoena power managed by a retired judge from either Alberta or Saskatchewan will be necessary and present and previous council members and former and present department heads must be obligated to testify under oath.

Taxpayers believe that all of the present council members as well as members of the previous council and former city staff, should be on the hook to pay Trio. Had the present council and the former three council members re-elected to the present council, each of them should have been obligated to announced in a pre-election mandate, their intention to continue supporting or to not support the Trio presentation.

Apparently some of them now appear anxious to abandon ship; unfortunately, they may be too late. They should have resigned immediately after discovering the mayor had signed a contract with Trio; especially when 700 taxpayers were demonstrating their displeasure in front of City Hall plus the support of more than 5,000 city residents who had signed their name on a protest list.

Elected members of a municipality, a province or the Parliament must be held accountable for their actions. Democracy demands accountability and fairness. Either a person is honest or they are not; dishonest people must be punished. Ernie Slump Canadian Army retired Penticton