Thursday, February 21, 2008

Shining a light on Kitchener Council perks

Ticket-gate continues in Kitchener where the City Fathers of Entitlement are stubbornly holding on to their free Elton John tickets, in spite of taxpayer outrage spilling forth from the news and editorial pages of today's Record.

Reporters Terry Pender and Frances Barrick ask the front-page question, What else is going on?

...Yesterday, the phone lines lit up on local radio talk shows. Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr found himself on national TV defending the move, and The Record received several letters to the editor (see a sampling on page A6) and e-mails sent to the newsroom.

Kitchener taxpayer Brenda Himburg says she isn't even a fan of Elton John, but in an interview following her e-mail, said, "Well I'm, like, how many other freebies are going in under the carpet? What else is going on?"

The reporters answer, "Apparently, not much."

This editorializing of the news is quite interesting and makes me wonder if the reporters received a fair amount of flack from someone high-up for putting this story under the microscope in the first place. This is Liberal-land after all. Home to Liberal MP Karen Redman and Andrew Telegdi, and MPP John Milloy. The heartland of socialism and entitlement.


The reporters seem to be suggesting that the following is barely worth mentioning:
...Councillors get free rounds of golf at city-owned courses. The rounds normally sell for $35 to $40, depending on the day. They also get free tickets to all events hosted at the Aud.

Some people wondered if councillors will get free tickets to the Memorial Cup in May -- the Stanley Cup of Junior A hockey.

A package of tickets for all the Memorial Cup games sells for about $498. Coun. Berry Vrbanovic said yesterday that since Kitchener is the host city for the event, councillors will have some roles to play.

"But what roles and what events I don't know," he said. "Those details have not been shared with us yet."

Vrbanovic said city councillors normally receive two complimentary tickets to all Aud events. That was scaled back to a single ticket for the Elton John show because of demand for the seats, Vrbanovic said.

But he said he was able to buy seven other tickets from the batch that was controlled by Aud management.

"On the general issue, I can appreciate that some folks are disappointed with the ticket situation," Vrbanovic said.


As you may recall, Councillor Vrbanovic was recently in Ottawa and on the MDL show pushing for more federal handouts to offset costs for city infrastructure.

Yet he gets a free Elton John ticket courtesy of the Kitchener taxpayer. Why not use it to fix a pothole instead?

More outrage here, here here and here.

Even the Record editorial board thinks that this policy of getting freebies should be reconsidered.

As John Gazzola, one of the few right-leaning council members noted, it is amazing how "serious issues are greeted with indifference, while the tickets issue generated so much buzz."

"When I see our water rates going up eight, nine or 10 per cent and people just sit back and go: 'So what,' " Gazzola said.



It appears that even Lemmings are capable of drawing a line in the sand.

9 comments:

OMMAG said...

Someone should call Canada Revenue and ask about whether these perks are being reported.

They are not illegal but they are taxable whether used or not!

So ..... how many city councilors and staff are guilty of Tax Fraud??

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Someone should call Canada Revenue and ask about whether these perks are being reported.

Exactly. The local talkshow host mentioned the same thing.

Anonymous said...

Now here's an ethics committee I'd vote into existance!!!

Let's turn this country's politicians upside down so that the future of our country...our kids have an even more
suspicious outlook on politicians and politics than we do already.

See that the McGuinty "team" is giving the boots to Flaherty in the Star today. Guess they don't like Ontarians hearing that the lead lib. lemming in Ontario's been papering over the cracks(and promises) he now supposedly just realized he can't pay for.

Funny, I don't recall this came out during the election or during the Christmas in July gift-giving of cash to communities and cricket clubs.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

See that the McGuinty "team" is giving the boots to Flaherty in the Star today.

Do you have a link, Anon? I missed that one. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Kinsella's blog has something, in case the other anon's not around.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Kinsella's blog has something, in case the other anon's not around.

I try really hard not to go there.

Sheena said...

This says "Not Free".
So which is it?

http://news.therecord.com/Opinions/article/312023

Joanne (True Blue) said...

This says "Not Free".

Which sentence are you referring to, Sheena?

Anonymous said...

Swept under the carpet. Entitlements live!!!