ROTHENBURGER – Wouldn’t it be nice if politicians knew what they were doing?
(Image: U.S. Library of Congress)
The notion that politicians should be experts only sounds good until we consider the concept more thoroughly
POLITICIANS HAVE BEEN GETTING NEW JOBS from their bosses lately. MLA Peter Milobar is now the labour critic for the BC Liberals. He has no background in labour relations; his vocation is small-business owner.
MP Cathy McLeod has been appointed as shadow minister for Crown-Indigenous relations by the new Conservative leader Erin O’Toole. Although she’s been in that role previously, she has no expertise in it other than what she’s learned on the job. Prior to politics, she was a nurse.
I mention these things in that context because the earlier appointment of Chrystia Freeland as federal finance minister was greeted with a lot of “what does she know about finance?” comments.
The armchair critics wasted no time in questioning her credentials.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, former school board chair, former editor of The Kamloops Daily News, and a current director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He was awarded the Jack Webster Foundation’s lifetime achievement award in 2011 and was a 2019 Commentator of the Year finalist in the Webster Awards. His editorials are published Monday through Thursdays, and Saturdays on CFJC Today, CFJC Midday and CFJC Evening News. Contact him at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
Journalists usually are the ones who know everything regarding everything…actually a good article is the one which seeks out various educated opinions from experts. One can assume politicians do the same…or do they?
But the pesky seeking re-election issue often prevents politicians from truly making good long term decisions…can we have an expert opinion on that?
Our City councillor who has a farming background recognized what I had sent to him via a photo attached to an email. “Weeds grow just about anywhere” is an old saying that holds some inherent value.
When a person familiar with cultivating the soil and growing plants sees something so stark as a rectangular patch of ground that is void of all plant life, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Did our elected farmer find himself in a position to carry the football that was handed off to him? It appears that was not the case.
No matter, his reply to me at the time was worth its weight in gold. Sometimes, farm boys can see things other bureaucrats simply cannot.