Last week I went to two municipal meetings. They looked very different from one another.
On Apr. 5, I attended the budget open house at the Uniplex. Beyond the usual crowd of Mayor Eaton and the city councillors and staff, there was nobody there who worked outside the city.
Then on Apr. 6, I attended the Landfill information session in LeRoy that was so well attended that they decided to do a full presentation instead of letting people browse the presentation on their own.
In total, 71 people attended the meeting, including REACT Board of Directors, the CEO Wendy Yaworski, and engineers.
Those who had concerns about the landfill presented well researched information and valid issues that they wanted to discuss.
Now I know politics does not interest some people.
However, I know in Saskatchewan we are very vocal about what we do not like in politics.
With the completion of the 2016 provincial election, there is going to be a lot of people giving their two cents on who won, who lost, what the Saskatchewan Party has done in the past, what the Saskatchewan NDP has done in the past, and who is not doing what now.
To me, only 56.83 per cent of people have that right to comment.
Voting is a fundamental right.
Voting is our easiest democratic right.
How can we have a sufficient democracy if just over half of people using it.
There are many reasons why people do not vote.
I give no qualms to people who want to bash the system for not working. But bashing it on the street corners and in the coffee shops will not get anything done.
Same goes for budget and landfill conversations.
I applaud those who came out and stood up with their concerns. They researched their concerns. They voiced them in mature and conversational ways. They joined the discussion.
When it comes to budget, if there is something people do not like, they should be getting involved in the discussion.
These are tax dollars that are coming out of taxpayers pockets. Taxpayers have a right to voice their concerns about how they are being spent. Taxpayers are given a platform in order to voice their concerns.
If you do not use that, there is no justified soap box after the fact that will make your points valid or make them useful.
If taxpayers do not go to meetings such as these, how do decision makers know there is a problem with what they are doing?
There has to be dialogue to accommodate issues and concerns.
This is not to say that everyone in municipal, federal, or province government is perfect. This is not a job where decision makers can make everyone happy. I think that is the biggest thing people do not understand sometimes.
I figured out this weekend driving around that politics is very much like giving people directions.
When it comes to three or more people giving you directions, they can have extremely different ways of getting to the exact same spot.
Some may have detours or backtracking, one way may take a little longer to get there but really, they will eventually get you to the same spot.
I usually hate backseat drivers but really, that is what taxpayers need to be.
They need to direct the driver on how they want to get to that destination.
If they don’t, they may be fuming that the driver turned right instead of left, but how were they to know?
