Suspend Richmond County's election until expense info is public, resident urges
Taxpayers feel cheated of their right to transparency and accountability, writes Dr. Robert Martel
This is a request of Municipal Affairs Minister Zach Churchill: Please suspend the municipal election in Richmond County.
It's an unusual request less than 10 days before voters here go to the polls; however, these are not usual times in Richmond County.
For nearly two years, municipal councillors and senior administrators have been at loggerheads with taxpayers of the county as more and more questions have been posed regarding personal expenses and perks. Council meetings have been strained, reputations have been impugned, threats have been made and the business of governance of Richmond County has been derailed.
Taxpayers feel cheated — not only of hard-earned tax dollars, but also of their right to transparency and accountability in the democracy in which we live.
Toxic environment
Meanwhile, the Department of Municipal Affairs — the overseer of municipal governance — has abrogated its responsibility to Nova Scotians, if the recently released provincial ombudsman's draft report into spending in Richmond County is to be taken at face value.
Oct. 15 will be a historic day for voters in Richmond County, one where representation will be reduced to half the number it was in the last council.
To better understand the request for a suspension of this election, one has to understand how toxic the environment has become within municipal government in Richmond County.
Some staff are on leave, reputations are in tatters, innuendo abounds and now the provincial ombudsman has opened a Pandora's box by using a broad brush to question compensation for expenses of the CAO and members of council. So damning are the allegations that the RCMP have opened an investigation.
Who to blame?
All of this is rather common place in many political jurisdictions, unfortunately, and often the ballot box can address the issue. But this may not be so in Richmond County.
The ombudsman has made it clear that he believes several councillors and the CAO have charged inappropriate expenses to the municipality over an extended period of time. The report states that some of these individuals have admitted to investigators that they do not feel bound by the guidelines on expenses and that "double dipping" is part of the culture of entitlement in Richmond County.
If indeed this is so, then it is prudent to ask how five incumbents can offer for re-election if they may owe money to the municipality. Moreover, do the taxpayers of Richmond County want another lame duck municipal government, one hobbled by a RCMP investigation into the very members that may be elected on Oct. 15?
What of those people who have done nothing wrong and perhaps have been instrumental, behind the scenes, in exposing alleged malfeasance? Is it right for voters to lump them in with other persons of interest to the RCMP?
How can a council function under such a cloud? How can they have any credibility on redrafting an accountability framework when they may have to recuse themselves while under investigation?
Minister must take charge
The minister must weigh the above information in the context of his greater responsibility and that is, as Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, to protect democracy for it cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely.
The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education. The people of Richmond County deserve the right to know who did what before they go to the polls. In the meantime, the minister needs to take charge of the situation and suspend the election until the taxpayers have all the details.
We should remember one thing about democracy. We can have anything we want and at the same time, we always end up with exactly what we deserve.
Dr. Robert Martel has spent 33 years as a physician in the emergency department. He lives in West Arichat.
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