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Monette's
pronouncements amount to little more than grandstanding
In
case anybody is still wondering why I'm running for city council, you need only
to have witnessed yesterday's city council meeting and saw our elected officials
posture and pontificate over what to do with the $30 million infrastructure stimulus
surplus they've been left with to get a clear picture why. If
you have already seen the trailer for the movie "Piranha", you should
have a pretty good idea of what it was like. There's nothing more riveting or
revolting than watching a group of politicians who are up for re-election fight
over so called "free" money. My
opponent in this fall's municipal election was one of the first councillors out
of the gate. Not only did he want a crack at the $12 million leftover from a list
of staff recommendations totalling $18 million, but he wanted the entire list
reviewed. He
then announced that he wants the money to bury the wires along St. Joseph Blvd.
and widen Trim Road, which begs the obvious question, "Why didn't he try
to get the money for those projects the first time around?" The answer is
simple -- he blew it.
Instead of getting $2.5 million to bury the wires on St. Joseph, he got $2.5 million
to build a roundabout, and instead of asking for the money to widen and realign
Trim Road between Hwy. 174 and Innes, he asked for $15 million to widen Trim Rd.
between Innes and the Blackburn Bypass Extension which the province and the feds
turned down. Monette's
pronouncements yesterday amount to little more than grandstanding. For one thing
there's not enough money left in the kitty to complete even one third of the Trim
Road widening, and for another, the rest of city council isn't about to give him
another $6 million to bury the wires along St. Joseph Blvd. after they have already
given him an extra $800,000 to complete the roundabout. Instead
of trying to make himself out as the defender of Orléans, he's managed
to turn a spotlight on his failure to look after the needs of local residents
when the city put together its infrastructure stimulus wishlist. The
mere fact that the east end only received four per cent of the Infrastructure
Stimulus Funding despite the fact we account for 18 per cent of the city's population
is outrageous. That statistic alone should be argument enough to give the entire
$12 million in leftover stimulus money to the residents of Orléans. Unfortunately,
Mr. Monette is still adamant that we got our fair share. To argue that we should
get even more now, would mean admitting that he failed to get our fair share in
the first place.. (If
you wish to comment on this or any other View Point column please write to Fred
Sherwin at fsherwin@magma.ca) Return
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