A return to a simpler time and kingdom

The bureaucratic monster is loose, and it seems there's no whistling it back in its cage.

Dear fellow defenders of democracy, we've created this monster. From apathetic and uninvolved voters to short-sighted planners and career politicians, we've allowed a ballooning of a relatively simple, four-tiered system to the voracious octopus it is today.

There's no point in laying blame or extending accusatory fingers. Instead, let's just travel back in time, to an unspoiled era.

Once upon a time, in a new land called the Town of Caledon, in the year of our Lord 19 hundred four and seventy, a large geographic town came into being, with councillors from far and wide, gathering in the geographic centre, to discuss the business of the day. In the early days of Caledon's entry into regional government, the daily "business" involved raising money to fix roads, build buildings and unite a largely rural collection of villages and hamlets into one cohesive municipality, with talent, wisdom and riches that any neighboring kingdom would envy.

Council meetings were informal gatherings with no microphones or even overhead projectors. If there was a question of staff, they'd pop up and answer it - they weren't asked for a 30-page report. There were no lords, ladies or worships, just mayors like Ivor, John and Emil and councillors like Richard, Don and Dick. You could drop in to see the CAO any time you wished, put your feet up on his desk and just shoot the breeze and share a laugh. Councillors were neighbors and friends who sat next to you in church and helped raise a barn or two. Heck, the aforementioned former mayors would have preferred to have their meetings in the back 40 with a very generous BBQ.

There were no squabbles over land, livestock or garbage dumps, just church socials, town hall meetings, cross-border hockey rivalries and making new friends in far-away places like Streetsville and Bramalea.

The small kingdoms flourished and people, upon hearing of a great land to the north of Highway 7, arrived and settled in this new-found paradise.

There were no environmentalists - there was no need. There were no uprisings and best of all, there were no consultants, planning studies and transportation analyses.

Slowly, and seemingly under the radar, all that simplicity slipped away. Don't dismiss humble, rural ways of the past as ineffective - decisions were made quickly and solutions arrived at just as fast. Things got done.

Now, as politics is becoming a soughtafter career and there are more civil servants earning well over $100,000 than any time in our history, is it any wonder our bureaucracy is a bloated, complicated array of bylaws, OPAs and constantly evolving economic plans, sprinkled with well intentioned greenness and duplicity?

The pitchforks have been traded for cell phones and citizens have banded together in virtual groups to fight injustice.

Let's pose the question - what is wrong with eliminating costly consultants, outside experts and unnecessary legal fees and taking a very simple, time-honored approach to local government? That would be, namely, councillors drafting a plan, project or proposal, with input from qualified Town staff, and then taking that plan, project or proposal to the streets, and asking constituents for feedback. The plan, project or proposal would be then fine-tuned to everyone's satisfaction, taken back to staff for the once-over and hard review (infrastructure, bricks, mortar and cost).

Instead, plans, projects or proposals seldom appear from the grass-roots level and seldom arise from the bright and inspiring minds of councillors. They are either staffdriven responses or external plans, projects or proposals that the Town has to "deal with," not embrace, encourage or co-manage. This leads to the hiring of expensive consultants, legal experts, trips to the Ontario Municipal Board and a lot of wasted time and human talent that could be better directed solving real, dare we say it, grassroots issues.

While many serfs may agree to that simple philosophy, the message from above (no, not that far above) is different.

Politicians will argue provincial legislation has virtually hog-tied them and visits to the OMB are almost a certainty, not something that can be avoided. The outcome, at this provincial body, is almost always predictable. Politicians will also argue that municipalities need to hire outside experts, seen as impartial, to back up their policies. Why? If a duly elected body creates policies that reflect the opinion and vision of the masses, why do we need to have hired guns defend it for us? And, how impartial and valuable is spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on Bay Street consultants, who will basically write a report that supports council's stance?

Government's accountability and openness, and wide open barn doors don't amount to a hill of beans if the public loses confidence, gets confused by reports, documents and bylaws, and responds by shirking their civic duty of voting every four years.

Let's get back to basics. Get citizens involved, set a vision, create a slogan, shop locally, support merchants, extend a welcoming handshake, not mountain of documents and red tape. Let's start making merry in this kingdom we've created.

MP, Editor