Re: Lantzville distances itself from mayor’s social media comments on Nanaimo referendum, March 17.
I am amazed by the philosophical political purity Lantzville’s mayor now embraces. His implied critique of Nanaimo’s event centre and subsequent failed referendum may be correct in hindsight, but where was the mayor when he was on the RDN board? Unless he is completely out of the loop, he should have known that any deficits and running costs for the event centre would eventually been carried by the entire regional district. This is similar to the financial support Lantzville and all other electoral areas now provide for parks and recreation facilities in Nanaimo.
It is rather disingenuous to hammer a nail in the coffin for failed referendum regardless of its merits. Even the Nanaimo ‘no’ organization showed some generosity toward the losing side, realizing the community must heal and move on. What Nanaimo needs least is a melodramatic ‘truth and honesty’ lecture from our mayor. Our mayor couldn’t resist the temptation to inject himself in the failed Nanaimo affair and in a rather condescending fashion, call for ‘no more ambiguous answers’ and ‘no more spin.’ There would be some credibility in his admonitions, but given his own spin politics and failure to deal with ambiguity, and interpersonal relationships as shown by the resignations by councillors and staff in his own community, Nanaimo council and staff cannot be, and should not be amused.
Our mayor has failed Lantzville by ignoring the fact that he is this community’s representative and not a private citizen when dealing with other municipalities. In addition, he has almost guaranteed failure to negotiate some modifications to the water agreement. (I cannot see any Nanaimo council and staff support after this lecture.) His comments, even if made with best of intentions, undermine inter-municipal relations and goodwill as well as the effectiveness of Lantzville’s staff and our current RDN representative.
Jack de JongLantzville
