Dear town council,
You were voted in to represent the men and women of Cochrane – people who live in the real world of uncertainty, of job loss and of constant stress to do more with less. These are the people you ignore with this 2016 budget.
By adding to the town payroll (2016 Budget, page 47), by providing pay raises in a time of massive job losses (page 9), and by simply carrying on as if nothing had changed (seven-per-cent unemployment, 15,000 job losses in November alone), you, with the exception of Coun. Morgan Nagel, have foregone your right to my future support.
You were elected to lead, and that means saying “no” even though it won’t be pleasant. We, the people of Cochrane, needed you to be strong on our behalf. Instead you took the comfortable path – higher spending, more toys, more staff. More of everything, in fact, except discipline.
Please know that come 2017, for the first time in my 20 years living in Cochrane, I will be actively supporting any candidate who promises to show appropriate respect for the tax dollars we provide.
