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In reflection on the Osoyoos
Times British Columbia editorial August 25, 2004 regarding the Chamber of
Commerce vs. Town of Osoyoos, in British Columbia,
- issues vital for Canada at large.
It is reasonable to believe that any
reasonable thinking person in Osoyoos, BC and elsewhere agrees with the
leader in the local paper. That the disputes between the Chamber of Commerce
versus the town and the town’s contractor the Destination Osoyoos
Corporation, is negative for the community.
Needless to say, working together with other organizations in the
best interest of the Chamber members and the community, promoting the
community as a nice place to do business, live and visit, which is a natural
part of the Chamber’s activities. However,
what the paper seems to overlook, is that the Chamber’s first and primary
purpose in society is not cooperation and promotional events and
beach-parties.
The Chamber’s primary purpose is to address issues that are
important for businesses, the Chamber’s membership, and hence important
for the community at large. Then
there is the issue the paper in Osoyoos is not talking about. The
Osoyoos Chamber fell out of favor with the Town Hall, because the Chamber
simply did its job and addressed issues surrounding the Town Hall’s
accountability to the community. Specifically,
the matter of the town’s contract and relationships with Destination
Osoyoos – D.O, also known as Osoyoos Business and Community Development
Center Corporation OBCDC. Involving
the Town Council decision to award the contract to the private Destination
Osoyoos – D.O without prudent tendering, and without accounting for the
tax transfers the corporation has facilitated for more than ten years.
The Chambers concern that the tax transfers meet the standards for
government intervention in the economy, what has been accomplished and where
did the money go? The
Chamber’s concern was to ensure a level playing field, for its members,
businesses, and other organizations. The
Chamber requested that the Town Council and government request that
Destination Osoyoos openly account for the tax transfer they
facilitate. That never happened; instead the Town Council’s
response was to wrathfully and arbitrarily terminate its long-term contract
with the Chamber for operating the Town’s Visitor and Information Center.
Thereafter, the town evicted the Chamber from “its own” building, and
finally handed the contract and “Chambers” building over to the
Destination Osoyoos, (D.O.) Corporation.
The lingering question in Osoyoos should be, why is the community
accepting this? Is tax being
used in the best interest of the community? Subsequently the Chamber’s
board, at that time, filed a lawsuit against the town.
As the pre-trial judge described the
case “this case cries out to be tried”.
Unfortunately, the case was never tried.
Up against the towns tax funded defense, the Chamber decides to
settle out of court? What
happened to the Chamber in Osoyoos could happen to any individual business
and organization. The case
strongly indicates a need to implement appeal legislation, which in certain
instances allows members of municipalities to appeal a municipality
council’s decision to the government. Very few individual or businesses
can afford to take a municipality to court as the Chamber’s case shows.
If Chambers of Commerce fail to muster support to try a case which is
of fundamental importance to the community, who can? Further, the court
should never be a substitute for elected legislations and government. With increased downloading of government mandates and
services to municipalities, the lack of a process where municipality
decisions can be appealed to government and the court is only the last
resort that should be a serious concern for the members of the communities
in BC and for investors.
To be a Chamber, not only to the
name but also in deed, the Chamber of Commerce must guard its integrity, and
not to be intimidated or engage in relationships and mindsets that
contradict the Chamber’s purpose in society.
That is now the particular challenge for Osoyoos Chamber of Commerce.
The nature and climate is nice, but
under the surface Osoyoos and the Okanagan is facing major social, economic
and ecological challenges. With
nature and climate advantages, the real estate and the tourism sector will
always be important for the Okanagan. Real
estate and tourism is also a cyclic and volatile business with elastic
demand, and climate changes may also be taken in to consideration.
Open economic conditions and with comparable advantages in
North America and around the world, tourism is not a panacea.
People and their investments and spending have many places to go.
The Okanagan desperately needs more
investment in clean sectors such as technology, light value added
manufacturing, and food processing. Intelligent people in the
real estate and tourist industry also recognize that. tourist and allied
sectors benefit from a more diversified and sustainable economy, which
generates more business year round and better paid full time jobs.
It may not be a trend, but current
data indicates that the tourist and allied sectors in Osoyoos is losing
revenue, and with that the community is losing employment as well.
Recently the only remaining manufacturing business in Osoyoos decided
to move across the border to Oroville in Washington, where also a number of
resort hotels and condominiums are planned.
This will compete directly with resorts and hotels in Osoyoos, and
particularly with a climbing Canadian dollar versus the US dollar.
Osoyoos, and the rest of the region including Okanogan WA, is a
closed ecological highly sensitive area that continues to lack integrated
strategic social, economic and land use and ecological planning, that should
be the concern in communities on both sides of the border.
The key to solving the issues and allowing the present, to achieve
their ambition without denying future generations to achieving theirs, is of
course research and education. Therefore
the community must expect that the new University of British Columbia
Okanagan UBCO will contribute with the interdisciplinary research and
education resources, that is needed to address the socioeconomic and
ecological issues society is facing, - not only at home but globally.
In Osoyoos the question should be,
is it good governance to privatize and separate economic development from
the overall community and land planning, in the Town Hall? Is it good
governance to shelter tax transfers in a private corporation from
accountability to society? How can possible economic development be
separated from land, and socioeconomic and ecological analysis and planning?
No community is an isolated island, would it not be beneficial to
integrate economic development and planning with neighboring communities and
the regional municipality? Is it not time to modernize the thinking of
municipality’s councils and boards?
In good democratic order it is
eventually the voters that finally decide what government, council and
administration they want and subsequently what kind of community they want
to become. Hence, a well
functioning democratic governed economy depends on informed voters. The only
real threat against democracy and that, which fuels bad and patronize driven
governments, is
ignorant and rationally ignorant and complacent voters. Therefore, a
democracy entirely depends on freedom of expression and freedom of the
press.
As the Canadian Daily Newspaper and
the Canadian Association of Journalists statements of principles state; the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of expression and
freedom of the press, a free flow of information sustains and vitalizes
democracy because understanding emerges from vigorous discussion, openly
reported. A newspaper has responsibilities to its readers, its
shareholders, its employees and its advertisers. But the operation of a newspaper is a public trust and its
overriding responsibility is to the society it serves.
Bolstering the positive and dodging
serous issues, the community is facing and shooting the messenger that
address the issues, they are not promoting understanding among the voters
and hence are not vitalizing democracy.
As Voltaire wrote, I disapprove of
what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
That can be a problem in one-paper communities, where the only local
paper is the main source of local information.
The peril against democracy is not what is said and discussed, but
what is not said in Osoyoos and elsewhere.
Ultimately, the paper is a private
business, and the editor has the exclusive right to set the editorial and
journalistic standard for the paper, a right that should never be
questioned. Only the editor must decide what should be written, omitted
and published, and which also reflects the moral and ethics of the paper.
British Columbia September 27, 2004
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