A great letter today by Debbie Keating. This is the same kind of actions we see by the CBRM Council and Mayor with the equalization unfairness issue. A few years back, we prepared questions to be sent to the provincial and federal governments regarding equalization that both levels of government were refusing to answer. The Mayor and Council at that time would not send the question as if they were coming from our municipal government. We were disgusted by their actions. It is this kind of a failure of our local politicians to seek the obvious answers to the obvious questions regarding how the government is manipulating these billions of dollars of equalization funding. All levels of government are intentionally refusing to comply with their constitutional commitment to the people. The consequences are now being felt with the higher tax assessments and the nickeling and diming that we are going to endure (wastewater charges and high taxation) because they will not demand accountability or transparency because of their own political futures. Shame on them all. The obvious answer is before the electorate shortly. The only recourse we have is to vote them all out of office. That goes for the MPs, MLAs, Councillors, and the Mayor. It is time for the local community to stand up for themselves because the politicians will not. Here is Debbie’s letter: In every community there seems to be those who dream big and get things done. Whoever commissioned our Big Fiddle on the Sydney waterfront would be one of those people. Kudos to them for thinking big. Unfortunately, we have had Cape Breton Regional Municipality mayors and councils who lack miserably in this department, in particular when it comes to dealing with a much-needed new regional library. In 2023, there were numerous letters and columns that appeared in the Cape Breton Post advocating for a NEW library and we have already seen several more this year addressing the topic. What inspired me to write my own letter of advocacy surrounds the insane notion from council to spend $40 million renovating a building that not only doesn’t meet any requirements needed for a new library, but it is a building that was built more than 60 years ago and which has already been condemned as a courthouse. Why waste time and money on a solution that does not fit the bill? Flashback about six years when local developer Marty Chernin, another doer, was hoping to build a housing project on the Sydney waterfront which would incorporate a new library. The library building would have been in the shape of a drum with its roofed green space honouring our indigenous roots and our musical heritage. It would have stood proudly within close proximity to our Big Fiddle while bidding visitors to enter from around the world. And on land that this municipality already owned. Unfortunately, despite a promise of federal funding support, that project didn’t get off the ground and in 2021 council voted against offering Chernin an extension. This despite support offered by local First Nations communities, Cape Breton Chamber of Commerce, Cape Breton Partnership, Sydney Downtown Development, Municipality of Victoria County, YMCA, Port of Sydney, Undercurren, and the Whitney Pier Youth Club. Was there ever a project that had so many community partners advocating for a build? And a project that would have easily attracted funding from all levels of government with its intent. This community has yet to hear and deserves an answer as to what happened behind those closed doors to vote this proposal down. There have been other decisions that prompt one to question the competency of decision makers at city hall. Putting a fire station across from our beloved Highland Arts Theatre despite public outcries from so many in this community is one. Or how about mentioning Archibald’s Wharf to the good people on the Northside? Another closed-door decision by a council who refused to listen to the public. I believe that had council made the right decision and listened to all of our community representatives back in 2021 our new waterfront library would now be standing. This community is still pleading for the chance to do so. Let the doers and dreamers build the waterfront library in the shape of that drum to stand proudly beside our Big Fiddle. Consider putting high rises on the courthouse property overlooking the park — lots of parking and closer proximity to the new Nova Scotia Community College campus. Public input is essential in this planning. And it is never too late to reverse a bad decision. Debbie Keating Coxheath