LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Think before voting in municipal election

The Niagara Voices column by Laura Ip along with two letters to the editor from the Saturday, March 31, paper are right on the mark.

Maybe we could ask St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley to put forth a motion or private member’s bill to add a referendum to the coming election.

It should ask, are we satisfied with the Regional Municipality of Niagara? Is the Region doing what it was formed to do? If we have to keep the Region should it not reduce the number of council members by one-half or more?

Then remove any jobs that are a duplication of what is done in our towns and cities. Niagara is over the norm on the number of politicians we have for the population numbers.

But the open, general question would be why when they hire highly qualified people for top jobs at the Region of Niagara do they tend to leave in a short term? Is there some kind of working atmosphere that is not to the liking of qualified people?

But the main thing is, as this is an election year think before you vote! Remember everything they have done for themselves and what they have done or not done for the people of Niagara.

John Hunt

Niagara Falls

Readers disappointed at Herod’s departure RE: DOUG HEROD’S FINAL COLUMN

We were so very disappointed and sorry to read that the article of Thursday, March 29, was to be Doug Herod’s last column for The Standard.

He has been the very best columnist for the paper for many years. We always read his column first and every word.

He had a knack of getting to the “nitty gritty” of an issue in a complete, concise and understandable way whether it was about the local hospital system, school boards, the Region, city councillors, Port Towers (a.k.a. Son of Port), etc., etc. He was always professional (Yowzers?), honest, fair and humorous, a real first-class journalist whose word we trusted and he helped us form an opinion. He will be truly missed.

Thank you Doug.

Steve and Phyllis Drake

St. Catharines

Leave the Sunshine list threshold as is RE: TIME TO TWEAK THE SUNSHINE LIST, OPINION, MARCH 28

I don’t agree. I figure Mike Harris was ahead of his time when he set the salary threshold of public employees for such exposure at $100,000 figuring he would also win over the vast majority of public servants who weren’t making anywhere near that amount at the time. Voters and taxpayers should have a right to as much information as possible, in and of the “public” realm, and governments should be held accountable to the people paying for it.

If not, the whole thing is a sham, and all governments are more or less the private sector, dictatorships if you will, (spying and cheating, how too many do in such regard) where the truth and telling it like it is is punished.

Sure, that’s merely my opinion, just like our votes are opinions, but where you look closely enough you should find they are also the facts that make us all that we can be, and, oh, so, worth working and fighting and living for.

I would leave well enough alone. Greater exposure and openness has been established, don’t go backwards.

Here’s hoping for an administration beyond darkness and conflict, competition and politics. Michael Glavic

Niagara Falls