Bill MacGregor’s Blog

October 22,2011

Here I am 3 years later back on the Campaign Trail attempting to retain a seat on the Abbotsford City Council. I wasn’t too sure when I began this journey the first time that I would ever be back for the second but due to the experience of the past 3 years and the learning that went with it I am back and I would like to return to Council wiser, more informed and more determined than ever to make a difference. Here is my first concern …

• taxpayers, a group to which I belong and have belonged since the mid 1960’s, are being asked far too much by the 3 levels of government given the shape of their own personal economic situations. I believe the “model” we are using is broken and repair is needed and needed quickly. Having said that let me share a historical perspective provided by Sir Francis Taylor on a CNN transcript….

“A little known Scottish historian studied history for the whole of his life, Sir Alex Francis Taylor. The quote attributed to him at life’s end was that a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always fails in a loose fiscal policy, and it’s generally followed by dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through a sequence … from bondage to spiritual faith, spiritual faith to great courage, great courage to liberty, liberty to abundance, abundance to selfishness, selfishness to complacency, complacency to apathy, apathy to dependency, and from dependency back again into bondage.”

I submit to you that we are following Sir Francis Taylor’s continuum and headed not so merrily right down Lemming Boulevard with a cliff just around the corner. Why is this happening … in my view, because of greed.

• when the price of oil is down around $85 to $90 a barrel why is the price of a gallon of gasoline over $5 a gallon when the last time oil was at this price gas was in the mid $3 range? What is the ripple effect of this? …

• Government takes in more taxes, oil companies make more money and the consumer/taxpayer literally, not only pays more for gas, but because over 90% of goods are moved by truck, the cost of goods and services are bumped up in order to cover the cost of the fuel and the consumer once again takes that hit.

• government is granting itself wage and benefit increases and rewarding bureaucrats with ever-increasing salaries. Witness the ongoing lamentation about health costs in this province and our inability to pay for education, the most important portfolio of any jurisdiction world-wide in my view, and then look at the compensation paid to Regional Health Officers by you, the shareholder … #1 $444,000 #2 $442,000 #3 362,000 #4 $355,000 #6 $328,000 #7 $292,000 #8 $292,000 almost 3 million dollars in annual compensation for 8 health administrators !

• the Top 5 BC Public Sector Execs were paid $1.01 million, $924,000, $653,000, $579,000 and finally $564,000.

Now, in times of great wealth would we not be better off putting a fiscal focus on education, health and the poor and leaving more money in the taxpayer/consumer pockets in order for them to participate in keeping the broader economy going instead of overpaying administrators of Crown Corps?

The City of Abbotsford has been my home for 31 years and I love it here. My wife and I have raised four children and have 2 more at home and so I decided to do some research to find out what it cost, in as current dollars as possible, to raise a child. I was able to access 5 year old Canadian figures that were exceeded slightly by the American statistics but nevertheless placed that number at, or around, $1,000 per month from cradle to the age of 18! With 2 children we are carrying another mortgage and for many of us we simply can’t afford it! We can’t afford gas, groceries, clothing, recreation, holidays, dining out or other forms of entertainment so how can we afford to pay more in taxes? In and of itself the property taxes in our city are not out of line with our neighbours and I believe we receive good value for what we pay for but when we can’t afford to pay any more then any more has become a hardship.

It is for the above stated reasons that I voted against the 5 Year Financial Plan for our city as well as a raise for the Mayor and Council. That decision has placed me in numerous conversations of …”what then can we do?” I have spoken with accountants, bankers and business people, including the current President of the Chamber of Commerce and, as I said to him, clearly I am not an economist but I know that we need to do something and I propose that we begin with a forum/summit conference devoted to taxation and alternative plans to create a model that is sustainable, inclusive of all citizens and does not push people out of the middle class and into poverty as it is doing now.

Stay in touch….

Bill MacGregor

“Your Public Servant”

I have, as many of you know, retired from SD#34 (Abbotsford) and while spending time this past summer taking my children to swimming lessons at a local pool, I encountered a very unsettling scenario that caused me to come to this decision of running for Council.

Research in education tells us that when schools are safe and secure people will feel comfortable about being there and will be able to reach their potential in terms of their intellectual, psychological and physical growth. When they DO NOT feel safe and secure they cannot achieve as well and, in many cases, they don’t want to be there! The same research holds for larger organizations whether they be companies, teams, or cities! This leads me to my “pool experience.”

While sitting on the pool deck watching my young children swim and noting how many young moms, dads and kids were there from our community I watched 2 young men, physically strong in appearance with what I understand to be “man purses” slung across their chests, walk from the shower room around the pool deck to the weight room. After a moment or two I recognized them as being people who had just been released from jail where they had been held “for their own protection.” Apparently, according to police they were drug dealing, gun carrying individuals who were being “hunted” by others who wished to kill them! Now I became concerned that such potential targets would be in a recreational pool full of kids, moms and dads and draw those who wanted them dead to such a public place. I am awestruck at how this could happen. I am sick about both the immediate concern for people’s safety and the fact that our community has so many gangs that have literally grown up here! Where have we failed these people that they turn out like this? Have we been too lenient in the court system? Have we been too sheltered in the school system and too unaware about what was happening right under our noses every day? What about parenting, churches, athletics and a myriad of other community services… where do we start and where do we end? Where did we all go wrong and what are we willing to do about it?

Your feedback is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Dr. Bill