Acceptiing personal integrity

Honour and integrity are matters of personal responsibility for me.

I am neither able nor comfortable delegating to others the responsibility and administration of my honour and integrity.

When an injustice is committed by those acting in my name (in this specific case council for me as a citizen of Abbotsford) my honour and integrity requires, no demands, I speak up to insist councillors act in an ethical, just and honest manner.

Delegation does not absolve citizens of their personal responsibilities for the actions taken by government in their name be it municipal, provincial or federal.

History and the world around us are full of examples of what happens when citizens abandon or delegate their honour and integrity to others.

I do accept and take to heart the corollary implied in Mr. Zilinsky’s letter.

Therefore I commit to stepping up and acting to bring about the changes needed to ensure that Abbotsford City Council behaves with honour, integrity, fiscal and common sense in an open and responsible manner.

Harper: No Ideas, No vision, No Integrity, No Leadership

The Harper No Vision, No Ideas Trick. Everyone sees through it.

That is the thought the attack ads of Mr. Harper and his Conservatives raised in my head. Every ad is an attack ad. There are no ideas for dealing with the issues of importance to Canadians; no leadership on what we need to do address the challenges facing Canada; just attacks on others.

Mr. Harper wants to call an election so he will have a “mandate” from the Canadian people. A mandate to do what? To continue attack ads to misdirect Canadian’s attentions from his and his party’s lack of ideas, vision and any understanding of what Canada is about and what it means to be Canadian?

Or perhaps he is seeking a mandate to continue to publish directives that instruct Conservative MP’s in how to obstruct the business of parliament? Although you do have to admire his gall in complaining he needs an election because parliament is “not working” when he is instructing his MPs in how to prevent parliament from working.

Of course this behaviour does suggest Mr. Harper is somewhat lacking in integrity. This lack probably explains his “wannabe American” behaviour and his lack of understanding of what the statement “I Am Canadian” embodies.

That Harper has No Ideas, No Vision and his questionable behaviours are not any surprise in light of his insistence on seeing the world through his ideology, failing to understand that Reality does not give a damn about your Beliefs.

Harper and the Conservatives passed a fixed election date law to prevent politicians and political parties from calling elections at their convenience and perceived advantage. Apparently this only applies to the other leaders and parties not Harper and his conservatives.

What does it say about Harper’s leadership and integrity when he will ignore a law his own party passed and when he cannot even inspire himself to follow a law he was responsible for enacting?

Another empty Abbotsford city council promise

Another empty Abbotsford city council promise.

City council assured us that fees at Abbotsford Recreation Centre would not take a large jump to cover the additional operating costs of the Plan A addition at ARC.

I now find myself paying a 13.1% fee increase to use ARC. To council, habituated to just reaching into taxpayers pockets for more, a 13.1% increase may not seem like a large jump in fees, but to me, coming as it does out of my pocket, it is a large jump.

I am not really surprised by the double digit price increases given council’s record of promises made and broken, along with their misleading or incorrect statements on City financial matters. Particularly in light of what was revealed about council promises made and not kept with respect to the crematorium issue.

I have no doubt that the City will have an excuse for the 13.1% raise; excusing making being the one thing the City and council excel at.

Actually, I am not really interested in whatever excuse they come up with for this double digit increase. The real excuse I am interested is the one they will come up with as the cost overrun on Plan A closes in on 50% ($42.5 million).

It’s bound to be a whopper.