It’s the unnecessary, frivolous spending that gets us every time. We all hate paying taxes, but most accept it as a necessary evil. Without our tax dollars we wouldn’t have universal health care, affordable education, decent highways, etc.
But when governments spend tax dollars on stupid, frivolous things like a fake lake to impress delegates at the upcoming G8 conference, it leaves most taxpayers disgusted.
Yes, it only cost about $57,000 to construct the backdrop — but for what purpose? As New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton points out, Canada is already a beautiful country and there is no need to build a fake lake when so many natural settings already exist.
And Conservative minister Peter Kent had the nerve to go in front of TV cameras and say the fake lake is a good idea because its a media-friendly backdrop. The media could care less about the backdrop — it’s about the interview.
The Conservatives can’t rationalize or joke their way out of this. They were caught spending our money in a very frivoious manner.
But it’s not like they have the market on this. All parties at one time or another have found ways to do it. They don’t seem to get that these are the things that really irk people who can’t afford a summer vacation to a real lake in their area, never mind this fake lake, in part because they pay so much in taxes.
It’s one thing to be cavalier about spending our money, but quite another to treat us like fools in trying to justify the spending, or worse yet, make jokes about it.
All Times-Herald editorials are written by the editorial staff.
