When the Premier's office took over negotiations to stop the gas plants, the tab that the taxpayers received increased 4-fold. What the civil servants could have successfully negotiated for a $250,000,000 price tag all of a sudden went up to $1 billion when the politicians stepped up to the plate. McGuinty's drive to get things done "quickly and quietly" to avoid political fall out was simply too costly for us.
We elect our politicians to oversee our civil servants in order to make sure the job of government gets done effectively and efficiently. We don't expect our elected officials to drive a snowplow, or fix a broken water main, or to be a life guard at the local pool. We hire trained professionals to do these jobs.
It is with that in mind that I get concerned about John Taylor's recent tweet:
John Taylor
Good meeting yesterday on potentially protecting new green space in #Newmarket
No!
His job is to approve policy regarding green space but leave the actual planning to the experts. I am certain that the Town of Newmarket employs trained professionals who have the expertise needed to get the job done.
The reason that Newmarket residents should be concerned with John Taylor sitting in on these meetings is that he is the same man, (along with Chris Emanuel and Tony Van Bynen) who "sat in" on the Glenway/ Marrianeville meetings. And if you need any proof that John Taylor is a buffoon when it comes to preserving green space, then you only need to refer to the recent OMB finding.
In that case, John Taylor and other members of Council refused to listen to their professional planner, (arrogantly thinking that they knew better), and it cost the residents of Newmarket acres of green space and almost $1.000.000 in related fees.
We pay substantial taxes to the Town of Newmarket and expect professionalism in return. If experience has taught us anything, we need to keep the politicians away from the negotiating table because they really have no clue what they are doing.
Thanks and please keep it up! At the very least we need these people to be accountable for their decisions so we are not electing the same people over and over (Van Bynen) when our interests demand a change of direction....
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion all past Council members should be a lot more diligent on the so called expertise we have on staff. This is especially true of the Mayor. I didn't see any Planner from the Town or the head of Planning what so ever throughout Glenway fiasco. Secondly, the head of Planning seemed to provide no direction to external Planner hired. Is this professionalism? The data will show the real cost to defend the Town's at the OMB and it won't be anywhere close to $1M.
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