Editor: It is de ja vu all over again.
The firefighters’ union is to be congratulated on having reached at least a partial settlement of their contract issue with the Township of Langley. Whether that came about because they are good negotiators is unknown, but they are superb tacticians. Their technique involves patience and not to bring contract negotiations to a head until just before a municipal election.
Then it is just a matter of making their demands and they can count on a weak-kneed mayor and his cohorts to cave in like a house of cards trying to save their political lives. As in the current case, it is not at all surprising.
So who are the winners and losers? The winners are clearly the firefighters, with the politicians running scared how could they lose? The sad thing is that this should have been settled a long time ago for everyone’s benefit.
Whether the politicians won anything, other than further tarnishing their image, is unknown. There is no way of knowing whether individual firefighters vote as directed, but why should the union care, they got their pound of flesh. Their betting record however is not great. In both the 2008 and 2011 elections they picked the wrong horses. Cold comfort to some, me thinks.
As usual, we the taxpayers end up the losers, while the politicians play fast and loose with our hard-earned dollars.
On Nov. 15 we owe it to ourselves to get out and vote to change things for the better. Remember: One single vote can make a huge difference. One single vote allowed Adolf Hitler to seize power in Germany, and see what difference that one vote made.
T. Braaten,
Aldergrove
