CITY COUNCIL

Could a job on City Council be rewarding for me?

Among Libertarian political circles, recent provincial and federal candidates have been discussing the idea of running in elections for a variety of jobs at the municipal government level. This option is considered a good way to become more familiar with local residents, businesses, community groups, leaders and institutions. I too have been thinking about running for City Council in the City of Kawartha Lakes (CKL) where I have resided since 2016.

Why Now?

For many years, the KCL’s reputation has suffered among small business operators and, in particular, residential builders and realtors. At a time when affordable housing (including rental prices and availability) is at crisis levels, I have wondered if I could apply my extensive experience to improve the economic and regulatory environment so as to heal this reputation ‘black eye’.

I recently completed my 9th election as a Less Government Libertarian candidate. Since the late 1970s, I have raised alarms against the growing threat of the steadily rising size, cost and scope of government operations. My interest in this topic intensified while completing an MBA course in Economics at the University of Toronto in 1979. Since then, I have always believed that the most prosperous economy is one with a bare minimum of government intervention and the least possible level of imposed ‘red tape’ and taxation on businesses and consumers.

My main political message as a Less Government Advocate has been very consistent. I argue that our #1 public issue is the excess authority of all levels of government. This is the root cause of almost all social and economic challenges that our citizens face. The only reasonable solution is to pare back these roots in order to free up the economy for further growth according acceptable sustainable criteria.

One Goal, and one Major Obstacle

If I were to join the CKL Council, it would be with one goal in mind:  to reduce the cost, size and scope of government operations. That, however, may not be a realistic goal because the CKL workforce is under a labour union membership agreement with CUPE - the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Over my 28 years employed as an IT Recruiter, and 4 years as an IBM sales and support specialist on the Ontario government account, I had many opportunities to observe the influence of labour unions on public sector workplaces. In general, unions foster lower levels of workplace productivity rather than higher. From this informed perspective, I am pessimistic about achieving my goal as a member of City Council. I suspect that any efforts on my part to boost CKL workplace performance will be met with actions from CUPE representatives to sabotage each attempt.

Remove Productivity Inhibitors

Unlike government operations, modern businesses have had to adopt new business models and productivity-enhancing systems in order to survive in their highly competitive markets. Such adaptation always requires additional capital investments, creative problem solving, the adaptability of staff to new ways of performing their jobs, and much more.

The words of Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel Corporation, certainly ring true for businesses today: “You have no choice but to operate in a world shaped by globalization and the information revolution. There are two options: adapt or die.”

Government operating models, unfortunately, remain moribund. No comparable ‘profit and loss’ incentives or competitive pressures exist to encourage constructive changes. Furthermore, union rules add greatly to their staid, bureaucratic, error-prone and unproductive work outputs.

When a politician tells you that a backlog in public services exists because the responsible department is understaffed, look for a smile, a wink and a nod coming from the CUPE representative standing nearby.

Anyone have a magic wand?

If I could wave a magic wand to repeal all union legislation at the CKL, I would be encouraged to join Council. We would be more free to revamp the worst-performing departments with updated business models, workflow processes and modern systems. With my work background, I could see such a job on City Council as offering a very attractive and achievable challenge.

However, I am not expecting a magic wand to arrive anytime soon. With CUPE’s claws imbedded firmly in the CKL public body, I am pessimistic that I could achieve any meaningful results over a 4 year term.

Are they worthy of my sacrifice?

There is one final question that haunts me.

In most elections, my Less Government advocacy has produced about 1% of the total vote count in my riding. Translated, this means that 99 voters chose More Government (Autocratic Socialism) for every 1 voter who wanted the Freedom of Choice that will come if only we reduce the size, cost and scope of authority that we currently have.

99 to 1 odds are a poor bet that my constituents will be in support of my goal. It’s a battle that seems certain to end in disappoint.

https://cupe.on.ca/archivedoc249/