Reading Challenge
July 2, 2024
Dear Mat Siscoe:
It’s me again. I know, I can hear you groaning all the way from City Hall. Or wherever you happen to be posing for a photo-op at the moment. Politicians do love patting themselves on the back, and you’re certainly no exception. You want to hear from me as much as you want a conservative government at Queen’s Park or at Parliament Hill. But, well, that’s one of the things you have to suffer through until your buddy Justin Trudeau can fully transform Canada into the basic dictatorship he so greatly admires. No doubt you are among many who share his vision as well. Then you can round up people like me and toss them into reeducation camps where we learn how all problems are solved when the nation, or in this case, city, yields to one individual will.
As a writer and reader, I couldn’t help but notice your monthly reading challenge. It’s probably something you came up as a tool to help distract from your embarrassing performance since being elevated into the mayor’s chair. You like to use the term “elected,” but I think we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one. All part of better communications from your office.
Every month, you post a new theme. Of course, you included all the political correctness you could. Gays. People of color. Indigenous. Because that’s what far-left politicians like you do. Divide people into tribes. It still amazes me that you actually held memberships in the federal and provincial conservative parties. But I digress. This month, your theme is authors living in or from Ontario. I suppose you needed a little break from all that wokeness. Not much, but a little.
Not surprisingly, many of your choices offer little in the way of substance. You certainly wouldn’t dare recommend anything on financial literacy or fiscal responsibility. Certainly not after blowing the roof on the budget and bemoaning how you had no choice in hiking taxes to record levels while cheerfully flushing a $2 million asset down the toilet and throwing money around like Santa Claus. $300,000 for cultural “investments.” $1,500 in neighborhood grants. Christmas in July. Any respectable opponent who runs against you in the next election is going to have a field day.
Nor would there be any titles on conflict of interest for people in public office. Bet you wish rabble-rousers like me would stop bringing up how, when you were a city councilor, you tossed aside existing protocol like a used snot rag and voted yourself into a higher paying position. Thankfully for you, the masses seem to have forgotten and you want to make sure it stays that way.
And certainly there would be nothing about accountable and representative government. Oh sure, you put up a fancy website seeking feedback on everything from cul-de-sac naturalization to strategic plans to community climate action. Then you just do whatever the hell you want. Take the stuff with parking, for example. You just got up one morning and decided that people without smartphones shouldn’t be allowed to park in a public garage they pay taxes to maintain. This time, you didn’t even bother going through the charade of pretending to care about what peons like us think. You just rammed it down our throat. Now you’re doing the same with downtown parking meters. No smartphone, no soup for you. The masses need to understand that you don’t work for them, they work for you. You are their master, not their servant. It’s a wonder you don’t make visitors heel before they step into your office. Then again, maybe you do. I haven’t actually met you in person.
Naturally, I am intrigued by the idea of your reading challenge. But I’m afraid you and I have vastly different tastes in that regard. Not to mention vastly different objectives.
Rest assured I won’t be reading any books on your list.
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