Dear Editor:
I was somewhat aghast to read in your paper that Summerland Mayor and Council had awarded themselves or their successors a substantial pay rise of well over 25 per cent, this despite the fact that they had been compensated for cost of living increases over the years.
Has nobody told them of the raging anger that is sweeping the western world since the financial crisis of 2008?
This is due to the fact that real wages for the majority have not only stagnated but declined.
In many cases, people are fed up with their elected representatives totally ignoring their plight, and simply carry on feathering their own nests at public expense.
Our own Prime Minister was caught out taking expensive holidays with the Aga Khan and it took the ethics committee to force him to pay back taxpayer dollars spent on his leisure.
We do not need “career” politicians who stand for election simply for the salary and benefits package they will get.
This town is run by an overstaffed and overpaid bureaucracy already, we do not need another layer of paid managers who are for the most part told what to do, and rarely take any decisions for fear of “rocking the boat.”
Being a mayor or councillor is not a career choice. It is a public service.
The only compensation should be the reimbursement of expenses incurred by the individual while on council business.
Even U.S. President Donald Trump had the grace to decline the presidential salary. Despite his many failings perhaps he understands what public service means.
John A. Lathey
Summerland