MARSDEN: For Calgary City Council, the gravy train is over

David Marsden is a Calgary writer and editor.Calgarians deserve better accountability from City Hall. Currently, our civic politicians are required to report their expenses for air travel, local travel, accommodation and meals when they are away on public business.But what they are not required to document is what they accomplished for our dollars spent.Can you imagine construction companies paying for employees to go to Vancouver on business?The employees dutifully come back with receipts for everything the company agreed to pay for. So they get reimbursed for the costs.But did the workers secure a better price on paint and nails? Did they learn a wiser way of applying Gyprock?No company in the world would send off employees without proof of tangible benefits. They would view the excursion as an investment initially. But if there was no benefit to the company, such luxuries would be short lived.And yet we allow city councillors to fly all over the world, without proof of any real benefit to the city. Quite frankly, we’d be better off plucking an ordinary citizen off the street and sending her to Halifax or Vancouver and having her wine and dine on the public dime. At least there would be some public good.We have the case of councillors Dan McLean and Andre Chabot who travelled to Quebec City for its Winter Carnival. They were reimbursed for all of their expenses, except one. They had paid for a meal for a large Calgary delegation — people who flew there at their own cost and could presumably have afforded a meal, unlike some members of our city.City council agreed to reimburse them for the extra expense, even though it breaches the city’s daily meal expense policy.What benefit did ordinary Calgarians receive from the plucking of their wallet?The dinner expense was touted as generosity and goodwill. Goodwill comes from the heart, not from taxpayers’ wallets. They should have picked up the bill themselves. After all, they fly there, stay there at public expense, and they can’t afford to buy a meal for their friends? Each councillor makes $120,000 a year. We call them scroungers.To send pampered politicians with plush pensions on such trips does us no good.In future, along with reporting the travel expenses of council members, there must be a category on the city’s website that identifies what was accomplished on the junket. It needn’t be specific, but it should confirm the trip was of value. That the trip wasn’t about enjoying the scenery and talking to the cute bar server in Montreal.It could be something like: “I learned how to fill potholes. We have never been able to do that in Calgary.”Or: “I found out we shouldn’t neglect communities outside of the downtown core. There are businesses and people beyond East Village that need support and attention.”Or: “I now understand it was stupid to promise a southern extension of Calgary’s LRT system and then cut it in half. Calgarians made plans on the pledge, and we have let them down.”Ordinary Calgarians don’t spend their money foolishly. The city does that in many ways. We need to insist that when a council member uses our credit card on their enjoyable travels, we receive value. The gravy train is over.A list of what we receive is in order.David Marsden is a Calgary writer and editor..This is what the Western Standard is up againstThe Trudeau government is funding lies and propaganda by directly subsidizing the mainstream media. They do this to entrench the powerful Eastern, woke and corrupt interests that dominate the political, social and economic institutions in Canada. Federal authorities are constantly trying to censor us and stop us from publishing the stories that they don’t want you to read. Ottawa may weaponize our taxes and police against us, but we’ve got a powerful ally on our side.You. Free men, and free women. We need you to stand with us and become a member of the Western Standard. Here’s what you will get for your membership:Unlimited access to all articles from the Western Standard, Alberta Report, West Coast Standard, and Saskatchewan Standard, with no paywall. Our daily newsletter delivered to your inbox. .Access to exclusive Member-only WS events.Keep the West’s leading independent media voice strong and free.If you can, please support us with a monthly or annual membership. It takes just a moment to set up, and you will be making a big impact on keeping one the last independent media outlets in Canada free from Ottawa’s corrupting influence.

MARSDEN: For Calgary City Council, the gravy train is over

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