The new democratic government 2008

Would you vote this government in, on the next election date of October 14, 2008?

Have you ever done a petition to council receiving a majority of signatures, only to have it dismissed by council?

If you answered yes to most of the questions above, then maybe its time to start a new revolution for the new generation and this new day and age where information is more freely available. Government needs to change drastically for people to have a true democracy.

Did you see this in the Vernon Morning Star. It says that a Regional District is not bound by a referendum. This goes for petitions, surveys, questionnaires as well. Then why would government spend thousands of dollars to ask us and make us go out of our way to tell them then what we think??? Couldn't the government just call Angus Reid and pay to set up a poll instead of making everyone go out of their way? The government makes up our minds for us anyway. How many people do you know that like the newly created carbon tax?

Do you want to start up a party for the next election, if so please contact us and lets get it together.

DICTATORSHIP OR NOT???

"Council's not bound by the results of the referendum," said Wendy Kay, chief administrative officer.

Snippet from article below that we found in the Vernon Morning Star Wednesday, December 12, 2007 pg A8 regarding the Coldstream referendum.

The Wrong Message

Did you know that council is not bound by a referendum??

click article to read larger print
We found this article in the Vernon Morning Star Wednesday, December 12, 2007 pg A8.
"Council's not bound by the results of the referendum," said Wendy Kay, chief administrative officer.

No voter apathy once system changes
April 13, 2008 - Kelowna Capital News

To the editor:

The recent federal by-elections, in my view, spoke volumes about our electoral system. The parties will put out their spins on how well they did. But in reality they all did very poorly because of the very low voter turn out. To me, this says that none of the leaders were able to inspire the voters to come out and vote. A large majority, obviously, felt that, because of the system, it didn’t matter if they voted and who got elected. So they didn’t bother to even vote.

I believe very strongly, the only way to change this is to change the system that would shift much of the power from the parties’ leadership to the voters and their locally elected members. Making it more democratic, “by the people and for the people.”

So I strongly encourage that the voters of B.C. strongly support the referendum in the next provincial election, for the mixed proportional system. I believe this system will not only encourage more to vote, knowing that their vote will not be wasted, but also encourage more qualified people to run for office.

And once this is demonstrated in B.C. the rest of the country will follow in short order.

O. Swintak,
Kelowna

Come join in together, and lets change this place. How would you personally like to see government and the voting procedure look?

Some feel things just haven't been progressing as well as they should, and that it all starts at the very bottom.

Lets start at the root of the problem. These are some things that need to change for true democracy:

Voting Rules and Procedures
Ballots
Booths
Campaign Material
Candidates
Who we are voting for
Campaign Donations

Staff left idling
By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - June 11, 2008

Vernon council chambers reminded me of an airport Monday. At times there were staff grounded, waiting for their report to come up on the agenda. While there were moments where some employees were circling — coming into chambers frequently to check on the status of their item and then leaving again.

During the five-hour extravaganza that was regular council, I counted the presence of 17 different employees.

Some of them, like the clerk and chief administrative officer, had to be there for the entire session, but others only had a single item waiting to go before the politicians. But many of those 17 people were left twiddling their thumbs for hours. By 5 p.m., many eyes were glazed over and arms were regularly propping up weary heads.

And the reason for this situation was the size of the agenda — 391 pages — and the number of meaty topics on the plate — everything from the western bypass and closing Suicide Hill to cramped conditions at city hall and Okanagan Valley governance. Such hot button topics get the juices flowing and the council members can go on talking forever.

There has always been some unpredictability to council meetings because no one knows how long the debate is going to unravel. Monday's session, which ended at 6:30 p.m., was a rarity, with most generally ending by 5:30 p.m. at the latest.

You may question why staff even needs to be at a meeting, but there is good reason for it. All of the reports before mayor and council were drafted by staff and any policy recommendations are theirs. If a councillor has a technical question, the relevant employee will hopefully have the answer.

But with 17 individual senior administrators and rank-and-file staff sitting in chambers Monday, I was left wondering who was minding the store? Were there not other things these employees could have been doing? How much paperwork or e-mails piled up during that time? How many subordinates went without direct contact with management?

Case in point was Steve McVarnock, the RCMP inspector, who was left cooling his heels for hours before a report on new office space was discussed. And certainly the situation was no fault of McVarnock's. He had to be there to answer any possible questions, and because the pace of meetings are unpredictable, he had no way of knowing when his particular issue would actually rise to the surface.

I also felt sorry for Ed Stranks, a municipal development technician, who had made himself available on the matter of Silver Star Road upgrading. But by the time he got from his chair to the podium, council had approved his recommendation with no questions asked.

I have no easy solutions to a problem that has plagued all municipalities for decades. But there has to be a more productive, effective way of utilizing staff while at the same time addressing the needs of council.

One would think that with the technological age that we live in, there must be a simple way of informing an employee to appear in chambers just a few minutes before they are needed.

Perhaps the answer is the BlackBerry council and staff have strapped to their belts. Not that I know how to do it, but I've heard text messaging works quite well.

I found it rather ironic Monday that part of the council discussion revolved around the lack of space in city hall and the need to rent offices off site.

With all of the bodies sitting in chambers that day, there was probably enough elbow room for everyone else.

Never doubt the ability of a small group of concerned citizens to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.

If you have comments, ideas, solutions, concerns or complaints regarding any level of your local, B.C., or Canada government, please make a comment by filling out the form below and/or comment directly to the government itself.

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NEW DICTATORSHIP DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

DICTATORSHIP OR NOT???