Council remarks ‘bewildering’, ‘odd’ and ‘strange’

As a concerned and interested citizen, I follow the affairs of Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) council and as many of its sessions as circumstances allow. Permit me to say that council’s last session demonstrated bewildering actions by some of our councillors.

First, there was what seemed an odd preoccupation by several councillors to get from Mayor Cecil Clarke details in the “what if” world concerning his future plans. It all related to whether Clarke wins or loses the forthcoming Progressive Conservative Party leadership and what he will do, in either case, concerning his position as mayor.

Both staff and the municipal solicitor outlined the legislation and practices, but this appeared to go over these councillors’ heads. One, insisting that she was a “Type A” personality, said she likes to plan. She suggested that council make its own plans. What precisely these plans would be and how they would jive with existing laws was not suggested by her. Most people in the room and listening, in my view, were left wondering “what is this all about?” She left them wondering and this supposed important matter just fizzled out.

Then, in an even more strange series of remarks, Councillor Ray Paruch launched into some sort of talk on budgeting, the need to obtain more revenues and then, in contradiction to what he just said, the need to cut taxes. What he said boiled down to this: CBRM does not have enough money, the implication being its government should get more. Then he said that property taxes should be cut for home-owning retirees.

Let me be clear. Both may be laudable objectives, but they cannot co-exist in a real world. But really the councillor was not addressing realities of governing. He was playing the old and tiresome political game of saying what is good to get votes. It was the same old political hot air which, around here, has become a noxious gas.

But it was what Paruch said next that was odd. He suggested that council fund some trips for CAO Marie Walsh to “go to places” to get some ideas on how we can deal with our revenue problem. Talk about passing the buck to get more bucks.

Don’t we elect councillors to propose ideas or at least seek out some on their own? Is Paruch suggesting that he has nothing to offer on a topic he clearly says is so very important?

It’s time we sought out some true action and accountability from those we elect to these jobs. Otherwise we will have no one to blame but ourselves when in the future a councillor’s best idea is to send an official on a trip to “find things out.”