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There was a time in our history when governments lived within their means. A Canadian study (IBM Corporation using Globescan data), shows that peoples’ trust in government was relatively high in 1968 at approximately 60% or “C+.” There were no annual deficits and no accumulated debt. The world has changed The world has changed. Annual…

Do voters have a right to know? Candidates running for public office should have the right to solicit a reasonable amount of funding support from anyone wishing to contribute. At issue is the degree to which these financial gifts should be transparent and whether voters have the right to know who the significant donors are.…

Welcome, good morning and thank you for taking the time to be here. My comments will be approximately 10 minutes in duration, followed by a 20 minute Q & A session. With that, let me begin by saying that my journey leading up to this day has roots that go back 25 years. It began with…

The Financial Information Act Report requires that every elected official must disclose the total dollar amount spent in each calendar year. However, there is no requirement to provide any detail, which means the taxpayer has no way of knowing what is included in the total amount reported. In keeping with my campaign promise to be…

Much has already been said since last Monday’s Council’s decision to deny Abbotsford Community Services (“ACS”), supportive housing initiative, which would have seen BC Housing contribute $2,400,000 toward the construction of the building and another $12,900,000 (60 years x $215,000 per year), for operational costs. A repeated comment made by those who oppose the ACS…

Music soothes the soul and stirs something deep inside of us. It triggers a range of emotions for both the hearer and those who play. Distinguished Canadian composer Stephen Chatman has stated it this way, “I cannot image a world without music, and I think a lot of people feel this way.” As Deputy Mayor,…

One of the promises I made to the people of Abbotsford during the November 2011 municipal election was that I wholeheartedly supported open, transparent and accountable government. By extension, that meant that I would apply that same principle as an individual member of Council. In other words, whatever taxpayer money I spent should be open…

The question is not whether it is a good cause, but whether it is a good cause that is affordable and justified. There are good reasons why the City of Abbotsford may wish to extricate itself from the Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) that was signed with the YMCA on February 28, 2011. The underlying assumptions…

“When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about how much he spends and how he spends it…when a man spends someone else’s money on someone else, he doesn’t care how much he spends or what he spends it on. And that’s government for you.” Milton Friedman…

A year ago, Abbotsford voters decidedly defeated the proposed Stave Lake project. Although there are many reasons for the defeat, one of them was discontent with increased water rates and the tiered water rate structure. Residential water rates increased between 2007 and 2011 by 77% at the lowest of the 3 tiered rate structure. Consumption…