By Tom Black
I hope you and yours are well and able to enjoy your family and friends as we start into 2014. For the OLA, 2013 was a very busy year and for the most part, we on the board of governors feel we have had some positive effect on improving the plight of property owners. Time however, marches on and many of us are very impatient with this slow motion move towards change, especially when we get calls from desperate property owners, who for no fault of their own, have fallen victim to a society that has lost touch with the code book that spells out the freedoms that must remain in place for the individual, that when upheld, protect the freedom of the country as a whole.
Politicians of all stripes and from all levels of government are intended to be the servants of the public, to do their best, to create a world that has hope for our grandchildren and takes care of our elderly, disabled and infirm when they are unable to keep up with the necessities for comfort and happiness. When I hear the present Ontario Government bragging that they have passed more legislation in the past year than most other governments have for years, it only proves how far away from the true meaning of their job, that they have strayed. Creating legislation should not be the goal of any government. Helping the citizens of the country to achieve their potential as creative beings and prosper from their efforts, and thus create wealth for this country in a safe and secure atmosphere, is the only job that government has. It should not be involved in any form of business! They should not be in competition with private industry. They should only set and enforce the rules for expectation of service, safety to the public, anti-monopoly legislation and foreign takeover.
Now I say to you politicians, most of who enter the arena with the best of intentions, please get government interference out of the way of the people who create the wealth and stop putting up roadblocks at every corner that restrict the flow of creativity and invention. Remember, governments do not create wealth, they take it from those that do and give it to those that don’t in the form of government jobs. It takes the taxes from a whole lot of self employed entrepreneurs to pay the wages, housing and pensions of one government worker and we are approaching the tipping point in Ontario where businesses will not be capable of making enough to survive under the load.
Let’s get back to the protection of people’s rights and freedoms and in turn put an expectation of honour among citizens to do the best for community and country. Government is supposed to lead by example and lately, the example is that of greed, corruption and complete lack of respect for the constituents. Let’s put the honour back into being a politician and remember the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.
Let’s make 2014 the year that we abolish the in camera meetings and hold our politicians to a higher moral code, one where we, the voters are kept informed, and are listened to before new laws are made. BEST WISHES in 2014.
Tom Black