When we had the last election for city council no one said that Innisfail was a hotbed of municipal crime. Why then the sudden declaration that we need to hire another peace officer for $100,000 plus?
Under the Freedom of Information Act I would like to know how much revenue the town got from fines levied as a result of the peace officer investigations.
It is one thing if the peace officer brings in revenue far in excess of his/her costs. It is quite another if the town gets twenty cents for every dollar in costs.
Under the same act I have been trying to find out who gave the council the power to decide whether or not we need peace officers in the first place.
As a matter of fact who took away our democratic rights and gave them to people whose only qualifications for winning a seat on council seems to be popularity at the polls?
All over the Middle East Arab nations are fighting and dying as well, just trying to get some of the freedoms we enjoy. Are we at risk of losing even more of our freedoms to demagogues striving to get more and more power?
All city councils have to do is just raise taxes to cover any excesses in their plans without consulting the people.
Shouldn't those who pay have a vote on how much they should have to bear? Isn’t it about time that the taxpayers called a halt to out of control spiraling costs?
As well as controlling almost every aspect of our lives, how did councils get the power to decide how much the taxpayers will pay them?
With a democratic vote did the people give councils this power, or did they just take it?
I once read in the Vancouver Sun where council can ask for an inspection of your house to prove or disprove that you are or are not growing marijuana.
The cost to the homeowner was $5,200. What a perfect venue to get even for any perceived slight to the council member.
Are we losing more and more of our rights every day? Who has the power to decide?
Frederick Peitzsche,
Innisfail Alberta
