gananoquereporter.com
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 12:55:00 EDT PM
Trust being a small word does have huge implications attached to it. Following are the traits of trust that should be part of any person’s makeup who holds public office: responsibility, honesty, truthfulness an conscience.
Without a firm understanding of conscience anyone can be primed to do all manner of actions that go against the first three traits of trust. Thus allowing them to exhibit the opposite traits of irresponsibility, dishonesty and falsehood.
Conscientious persons seek to do that which will benefit the common good. The rights of others are paramount. They will have no preferences for or against, no axes to grind, and no hidden agendas sitting somewhere on the the back burner. All deal in openness and are above board. If an individual does not possess this sense of conscience then they become a very real threat to the stability of any community. Without conscience, trust means nothing and therefore responsibility, honesty and truthfulness fall by the wayside.
This support of the American Boat Museum project steers our council in a definite course against the will of the majority. This course of action gives clear indication that those four pro voting councillors are not serving the public good. Their intentions lie somewhere outside the realm of the community.
I think these four councillors are dead wrong in their continued intentions against this community. I also think that they should rethink very carefully their position in regards to the ABM project by letting the community decide by a referendum vote.
People should have the voice and not the money. Council, the people need to abide by their decision.
A referendum, as the mayor states publicly, should be reserved for special situations.
We should allow the council to del with this situation. I ask you Mr. Mayor how can we let them deal with this when the deck is stacked against us? Is not the selling out from under our very noses the land that our forefathers fought to keep Canadian situation enough? It does seem to me that what’s happening here is more important than the casino referendum. Money played a there as well, but we didn’t have anything to lose because we didn’t own anything. We have a huge loss staring every taxpayer in the face that will continue for years if this deal is allowed to proceed.
The waterfront is totally different. This land is our land and not the personal property of these four councillors. These councillors shouldn’t be allowed to dispense this land as they see fit. This land is the very heritage of our community and goes to the core of being Canadian. Our land is owned by each individual taxpayer.
Giving it to the Americans at a huge cost to ourselves is not an option. a referendum allows the public the right to speak. Mayor and council, you are muzzling our right to freedom of choice. That freedom is guaranteed in the Charter of Rights. Again, I ask you, are the rights of the people you lead special enough to be heard? Referendum is the only fair way to proceed in this situation.
“Without conscience, trust means nothing and therefore responsibility, honesty and truthfulness fall by the wayside.”
From Brian Lucy, former long-term organist St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Gananoque, Ontario (Kingston Archdiocese) recently charged with one count of indecent assault on a male and one count of gross indecency.
VERY interesting quote from this epistle – “Conscientious persons seek to do that which will benefit the common good”.
How would we define a person who is NOT conscientious? Mike.