I have often asked myself as to why people run for office at a local level. I have yet to come up with a concrete answer to this.
The solutions that I have been able to churn through range as follows: to make an area a better place physically or economically from what it was prior to running for office; personal interest in the economic development of the area; promoting the area to enhance internal industry, both public and private and sundry odd other reasons that are too numerous to mention.
Currently, we have several new councillors along with some that might be termed “old guard councillors.” That in and of itself is not a problem, as new blood hopefully brings new ideas and gives some positive results. That being said, I am wondering about my reference to positivity regarding all councillors at present. Many of you are entrepreneurs in your own right outside of council. Some of you are part of other enterprises as employees or even board members. As such you either receive or pay for such things as medical coverage and such insurance.
Why is it that this “new council” deems it necessary to have the taxpayer support your request for supplementary medical coverage? It seems that it hasn’t taken you too long to take a page from the politico books of other governments. What you are suggesting is tantamount to pork barreling as shown by various other governments, including our B.C. MLA’s. They use the excuse that they work hard and that their jobs are demanding. You may use the same argument to justify this medical coverage. Keep in mind, MLA’s voted themselves a 37 per cent increase in salary not long ago, but also got additional health benefits at our expense. That has not been forgotten by too many B.C. taxpayers.
Ask yourself why did I really run for public office? Be truthful. Did the idea of being a successful candidate ever include a publicly funded health package? I don’t recall any candidate alluding to this. If you are concerned about expense and knew full well what the pay and benefits of the job were prior to election, if medical insurance is an issue, why did you run? Overall, the real question appears to centre around does greed meet need or does need meet greed?
Ron Barillaro
Penticton