Looking back upon the performance of the city
council exposes unfortunate realities. Politicians at every
level constantly use the excuse that outside forces made them
do whatever it is they should not have done.
Taking responsibility is not their forte, and
the real reason they failed us these past years is the same
reason those in council cannot succeed on our behalf in the
future. Like almost all politicians at every level, they cannot
lead.
Leadership is about making difficult choices
on behalf of the electorate. It is about standing by those
choices, and defending them, and accepting that sometimes the
correct choices are not going to purchase political goodwill.
It is also about recognizing when a choice was foolish, and
changing what cannot work. In essence, it is about taking
seriously the responsibility vested by constituents, and being
a strong representative for collective interests. Self-interest
is too strong a trait in our present political animals, and
they haven't the willpower or the courage to exercise any
leadership.
What is more frightening to me is the
knowledge that some of our municipal politicians are
intelligent and some are skilled. Yet, almost to the last, they
collectively stumbled from crisis to crisis, and spent with a
wanton disregard for the wishes of the ratepayers. That not a
single voice effectively rose from the council chambers to
decry the abuse of the responsibility they had is a distressing
consideration. The few times that a voice of reason did rise,
it was shouted down and drown out by political prattle, and the
speaker seemed then to not have the willpower to continue the
battle.
Change is inevitable. It will require skilled
people to step forward and fight for the community interests in
an aggressive and tangible way before the last competitive
advantages have been washed away by mismanagement.
Frank Buchan
Sudbury