The following is a letter to the editor written by Bob Pattison. It is republished here with the permission of the Landowner Magazine.
Obituary
Democracy:
Born; circa 500 BC, Athens Greece.
Married; (to millions) Runnymede, England via Magna Carta 1215
Died; November 24th, 2015; Lambton Shores, Ontario.
Democracy is survived by her ailing siblings: Rule of Law and Due Process.
Over 150 people witnessed the death of Democracy at the Lambton Shores’ Council meeting, November 24th as Mayor Weber, Dep. Mayor Cook and their closest comrades voted against a Public Hearing to review the latest edition of the Official Plan. Version 7 of the OP was presented to the public on Friday November 20th at 5:00 pm, allowing residents of Lambton Shores only a few hours to learn of the extent government agents have planned to strip property rights from the taxpayers of our community. For such a critically important document, what’s in the new OP that the mayor doesn’t want us to know about?
The Planning Act is very clear on the matter:
Section 15: In the course of the preparation of the plan, Council shall ensure:
(c) adequate information and material including a copy of the current proposed plan, is made available to the public in the prescribed manner
(d) at least one public meeting is held for the purpose of giving the public an opportunity to make representations in respect of the current proposed plan. 2006. c 23 s 9 (2).
Section 19 (d) (compliance): shall be held no earlier than 20 days after the requirements for giving notice have been complied with.
A key principal of Magna Carta, upon which Canada’s constitution is founded and from which all laws of Canada must be tested, is that no one—not even the King is above the law. Millions have died to defend this principal. Magna Carta Democracy has spread throughout the world. The beaches of Normandy and Juno are awash in the blood of young people believing so deeply in Democracy that they volunteered to defend her on foreign soil. It has only been a few short days since we paused to remember those who would fight for Democracy overseas. To witness Democracy’s death at home is a travesty.
Only one Councillor spoke to defend democracy at the council meeting of November 24, 2015. Only two more exhibited the courage to stand with Councillor Finlay and vote against the planner’s recommendation to remove the public’s right to be heard. Congratulations to Councillor Finlay and his partners from Forest. Shame on the rest of Council for their undemocratic behaviour. Shame indeed.
What goes through the mind of tyrants when they force public works projects onto citizens that have told them: “We don’t need or want sewers in our area!” It is bad enough that planners and politicians have convinced themselves they can arbitrarily remove property rights from private land owners, but it is most disturbing when the tyrants ram their pet projects through by ignoring the Rule of Law and crushing Democracy in the process.
Democracy can be messy at times and is well characterized by Winston Churchill when he said of her: “Many forms of Gov¬ern¬ment have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pre¬tends that democ¬racy is per¬fect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democ-racy is the worst form of Gov¬ern¬ment except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Shame on the members of this council that continue to disrespect the will of the people.