Re-writing History?

“Gibson initially spoke out against the Plan A initiative but later supported it after the three projects received public support through two referenda.”

Let us be accurate here – there were not two referendums on Plan A. The first referendum Mr. Gibson cites was only permission to make a plan and present it to the community. It was in no way an approval of Plan A – except perhaps in the minds of those desperately seeking to justify their support of Plan A.

More importantly, if as he states Mr. Gibson was opposed to Plan A his duty to the people who elected him was to stand up and speak his opposition out loudly during the Plan A debate, informing the public of his opposition so they could take that into consideration as they voted on Plan A

As a strong and vocal opponent of Plan A I attended all public meetings and sessions about Plan A and carefully scoured the local papers for any words written about Plan A.

I do not recall hearing or reading of Mr. Gibson speaking out against Plan A nor do any citizens I spoke with about Mr. Gibson’s claim remember any statement or statements by Mr. Gibson against Plan A.

Given the closeness of the referendum results, a long term Councillor such as Mr. Gibson speaking out against Plan A would in all probability have resulted in a NO outcome and spared taxpayers the large cost overruns, the large tax increases and the debt load the city carries as a result of Plan A.

Massive cost overruns, high taxes and big debt load – all barriers to filling more pressing needs for the city such as infrastructure. Leaving one to wonder how if indeed “Municipal infrastructure, particularly roads, is a high priority for Gibson” he could have failed to strongly and vocally oppose Plan A – as did those of us who also had concerns about municipal infrastructure? How could he in any way support Plan A when it would be a major barrier to being able to fund infrastructure?

Why did we the public not hear of Mr. Gibson’s opposition to Plan A? How could Mr. Gibson vote for Plan A and its costs if infrastructure is a high priority for him?

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