The following letter was published today. We had better start demanding transparency and accountability from those we select to represent us in politics. We would like to note that we have not heard back from Cecil Clarke about the $300 million budget that he mentioned during his campaign. I have asked for an explanation, but he has not responded. The CBRM website clearly shows a municipal budget of $170 million not $300 million. We will continue to ask the question. Stay tuned. Albert Maroun Here is the letter: CBRM Civic Center Should Be More Accessible Dear Editor. I have made a formal request to present to the CBRM mayor and council once again on the issue of equalization. I will send two representatives of the NSEF (Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness) to present the data and what the law (the Canadian constitution) states about equalization in section 36. The hope is that the new council members will fully understand how the CBRM is being used to generate funding that we never receive and how that relates to the high property taxation situation we are currently experiencing. The latest numbers published show that the CBRM is trending upwards in property taxation and the HRM is trending downwards. Equalization is provided by the federal government so we can live to Canadian standards without excessive taxation. Something all governments in Nova Scotia have ignored for many years. They all hid behind the tax cap while misappropriating our funding but that has finally caught up with the provincial government. Cecil Clarke has a history of ignoring equalization and I do not believe that is going to change. He mentioned during his campaign that the CBRM is soon to have a budget of over $300 million while the municipal government reports that our yearly budget is currently at $172 million. I wrote to Mayor Clarke and asked where the difference was coming from, but he ignored my request as usual. It better not be coming from another tax increase because this community will not stand for that action. If you are not in the tax cap, then the tax bill can be more than mortgage payments around here. Here is hoping that the new CBRM council will be open to our presentation unlike the Civic Center itself. In Halifax if you go to City Hall, you sign in and then go to the various departments unlike the CBRM where the Civic Center is locked down like a maximum-security prison. You can go into the door and pay them money and anything else required will involve you going home and calling them and most likely you will get a voicemail recording. Mayor Clarke and all other employees in the Civic Center must realize that the building is owned by the taxpayers of the CBRM. The purpose of the building is to service the community and the residents of the CBRM, and it must be accessible. What are they hiding that makes that building so inaccessible to the public? We should be able to walk freely inside a building that we pay for, and we should be able to access the various departments in the building itself. I will keep the public informed in 2025 about the progress we are making, and I want to wish the CBRM residents all the best during the holidays. Rev. Dr. Albert Maroun