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Water debate so much jabberwocky |
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Friday, 18 September 2009 |
I am certain Lewis Carroll didn’t have the members of Halifax Regional Municipal council in mind when he coined the word “jabberwocky.” After all, that was 1872, and Ron Wallace was mayor. Or so it seems.
Anyway, anyone who missed Tuesday’s debate over banning bottled water from city hall, missed what could have been a classic edition of Laugh In. Such was the nonsense spoken by the majority of members debating the subject.
Kudos to Deputy Mayor David Hendsbee, who chaired the meeting, for not grabbing a couple of councilors by the throat and shaking them into a state of awareness. A few of the members, such as Bob Harvey, Reg Rankin, Gloria McCluskey and Sue Uteck, did their best to keep the debates in focus and on topic. The rest? Can you spell grand-standing?
Harvey, one of the few voices of reason at HRM council meetings, and the individual who represents me, tried to get councilors to see just how trivial the debate had become, but like a misguided arrow from the bow of William Tell, his remarks flew over the heads of the reason-challenged members as they nattered on with endless jabberwocky.
Maybe it’s the cameras, the excellent Channel 10 coverage that has them on their feet at every possible opportunity, running off at the mouth. Or perhaps they like the sound of their own voices. Some, I am sure, truly do, because why else would they utter such mindless drivel meeting after meeting, after ….
Councilor Jennifer Watts had tabled a motion asking the HRM council to discontinue providing bottled water to workers at city hall and for those in attendance at events held there. A simple and straight forward step, and an encouraging sign that council was taking a step, be it ever so small, towards protecting the environment.
Simple? Yeah right. These pillars of knowledge imagined everything short of civic uprising ft the motion were passed. Linda Mosher did everything but hold her breath and turn blue, trying to force an amendment to the motion. I wondered aloud if she had, in another life, been a baseball player.
“Why?” my wife asked.
“She keeps coming out of left field.”
It was here where Hendsbee shone. Despite the petulant rant, he stood his ground and eventually turned off Mosher’s microphone.
Had Peter Kelly, who was in Ottawa that night, been in the chair, the debate might still be going on. Likely water would have been replaced with cats. I digress.
What really galled me was not the inane ramblings of the majority. I’ve come to expect that, no it was a figure that was tabled late in the debate. It was casually mentioned that HRM spends $60,000 a year providing bottled water to staff, committee members and visitors. Twenty thousand dollars of that sum is spent annually on city hall guzzlers.
The Halifax Regional Municipality has one of the best water systems in North America, and yet our council allows an expenditure of $60,000 for bottled water. Shame on them.
Imagine what the folks at Metro Turning Point, Hope Cottage, Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank, the Salvation Army, etc. could do with $60,000.
This figure was dropped in an open session of council. Imagine what we miss at those in camera meetings. I stray.
Meanwhile, tune in next Tuesday, and each Tuesday thereafter. Be prepared to laugh, and if you care about the communities that comprise HRM, be prepared to cry.
(Al Hollingsworth is a retired journalist and broadcaster)
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