Yorkregion.com - Editorials - Unfair burden on taxpayers
Unfair burden on taxpayers
Editorials
Apr 10, 2008 12:59 AM
Let’s face it: This hasn’t exactly been a great couple of years at Vaughan city hall.
We watched as the 2006 municipal election dragged on and on with endless recounts and bickering, citizens were slapped with lawsuits for asking questions of their elected officials and, thrown in for good measure, a couple of police investigations over alleged wrongdoings that garnered Vaughan the city above the law moniker.
Now, the latest in a string of requests to open up the books of campaigning politicians will do nothing more than allow their opponents an opportunity to attack their integrity or expose alleged links to developers and the like.
Councillor Alan Shefman said it best this week when debating with his colleagues whether or not to order an audit of former mayor Michael Di Biase’s campaign finances: “This is a lose-lose situation for Vaughan and we have to find a way to deal with this. I’m totally frustrated. The province has to get their act together. We end up in court and we end up spending the residents’ money in a way we shouldn’t.”
For a start, we should pressure our local MPPs to get the Municipal Elections Act amended to require all candidates to disclose their full list of campaign donors at least a week before election day.
As it stands now, only the most motivated of ordinary citizens make the trek to city hall long after the election, request the campaign finance documents, analyse them according to the rules and bring any irregularities to the attention of council by making a public deputation.
That’s certainly asking a lot of the taxpayer to ensure candidates are keeping accurate accounting ledgers.
Our own councillors on Monday expressed frustration at analysing the case against Mr. Di Biase, submitted by a Kleinburg resident. They plan to seek legal advice — paid for by you — to help them decide if they should accept or deny the audit request.
If our politicians want to spare us the expense of legal fees and auditors, next time they’re campaigning they will voluntarily disclose their financial documents before we go to the polls. If they start trusting us with the truth about what they’re up to, we’ll be able to trust them all the more.