Dear Editor,

How can we turn a self-harming County into a self-protecting community? Let’s start with sloppy governance, because it’s often the source of unnecessary risks.  Theoretically, County Council’s first duty as an elected, responsible, democratic body, is to protect us without harming us, and my last letter listed their many failures to protect. Council’s second duty is to listen and serve us, not dominate us with its incompetence, in the colonial tradition. Election time is our only moment of true political power in a democracy. Unfortunately, human life in the County has not been respected or valued, because past County Councils and this one, have failed to make diligent efforts to educate themselves in public safety in order to protect us, depriving County families of the protection they deserve. They’ve been turning a blind eye to expert advice which often contradicts the Province’s questionable, or failed policies and positions.

Part of our problem as constituents, is that we have no power or control over our elected representatives once they’re in office. They become “taken over”, by government controls and influence, forcing them to swear a second conflicting oath “to support government” programs. They become locked into legal obligations to government, instead of representing the constituents who elected and pay them. In return for the second oath forced on our elected representatives by the provincial government, it protects them against liability with protective legislation, which works against us. It leaves constituents entirely helpless against any future incompetence, treachery, or abuse of elected powers by those elected representatives who act against the public’s wishes. Bad performances repeated by councillors prove that complaints and fines are meaningless exercises.

My experience is that the oath of office often decays with a short half-life, of a few days.  But that second conflicting oath to support government, which negates the first, is the deal breaker.

An individual can ethically serve only one master. In the last few years, we’ve seen first hand evidence of incompetent Supremacist governance at the provincial level, as: a) the Skyway Bridge which is operated unsafely, and against the Highway Act, b) the mishandling of the COVID pandemic which saw more than 13,100 COVID deaths that could have been prevented with comprehensive face mask measures, and finally c) the demolition of two historic County buildings, all by the Ford-Smith government.

MPP Todd Smith has demonstrated his silent indifference toward those constituents who are politically opposed to his Macdonald politics of Supremacy, by going dark. He refuses to answer my extremely important and relevant challenging emails, about these family issues.  Silent indifference does not deserve re-election. Ford’s Provincial Government has been acting with unethical Supremacist domination, and public disrespect that undermines our individual sovereignty and wisdom, when his government forces our elected representatives, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and many others to take a second oath usually during some certification, to support government policies and programs, that often work against our best interests.

This corrosive “tyranny by bureaucracy” is undemocratic, and against our human right to refuse and oppose government’s excesses, when it fails to act with diligence in the best interests of our families.

Steve Staniek

Woodville