The following letter was published today. This letter was in response to David Delaney’s recent letter that many people have now responded to. There are selected people who are trying now to discredit our equalization fight by stating we must move past the fight for fairness. Election time is coming and maybe sooner than expected (per comments made by Tim Houston yesterday). The forces are out in full force trying to discredit the fight for equalization fairness. Don’t be fooled folks and get ready to challenge them all come election time. It is up to us, the voters, to ensure the twisting and squirming will continue with our politicians on the equalization issue. Voting independently is now a reality and is possibly our only solution. Here is today’s letter: Equalization fairness fight not a ‘lost cause’ 13 Jun 2024 Re: ‘Time to bury the (equalization fairness) fight in CBRM,’ commentary by David Delaney, June 4. I would like to thank David Delaney for the above commentary. He mentions that politicians twist and squirm on the equalization issue and he is right. There is a good reason for all that twisting and squirming as politicians know we are right, but party politics prevents them from standing up for what is right. Hence all the twisting and squirming. Heck, during Bill 340 all one had to do is watch the process and it would make you vomit. The five Progressive Conservative MLAs from Cape Breton (Allan McMaster, Trevor Boudreau, Keith Bain, John White and Brian Comer) voted against amendments that would see a separate and better deal for funding the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM). Why? Because they were told to do so by the party or party leader no doubt. The public must remember this come election time next year. Then we had to sit and watch the rest of the CBRM MLAs fight like hell for a better deal. But it was also hard to watch that, especially Liberal MLA Derek Mombourquette. Where was that fight when your party was in power, Derek? Where was that passion when you were in the position to do something about the CBRM’s severe underfunding? More party politics at play where party leaders tell the obedient servants what to do. We are about to see a lot more independent MLAs running in the next election and if the public wants change, we had better start voting differently. The party system is now working against us 100 per cent. Back to Delaney’s article. The Nova Scotia for Equalization Fairness disagrees with the view that equalization is a “lost cause.” Let us see what happens when Newfoundland and Labrador takes the federal government to court over the “lost cause” of equalization. Delaney should read section 36 of the Canadian Constitution and then decide if we are being screwed. Equalization is provided so we are not overtaxed and can live to a Canadian standard. Guess what, Mr. Delaney? We now pay the highest property taxation in North America (outside the cap) while Nova Scotia receives $3.284 billion so that does not happen. Where is this funding spent, Mr. Delaney? Are you even curious? A municipality of our size and land volume should have a yearly budget of $350-$400 million per year (based on a Canadian average) but the CBRM is operating on $170 million per year. You see, Mr. Delaney, the poorer we are the more they get in Halifax that gets stuck in general revenue and no record is kept of where this funding is spent. All one must do is take a trip to Halifax to see where it is being spent, sir. One thing is for sure though. We do agree with Mr. Delaney that we must start to do something differently in this municipality. Rev Dr. Albert Maroun Sydney