“Don’t you lie to me! If you lie, you will be punished twice as hard!”
That's how my parents admonished me decades ago. I said much the same to my children when they were young.
I never lied to my parents again. I believe I can say the same for our daughters.
I expect most parents had a similar experience and were able to trust their children just as I trusted mine.
But not everyone is honest and politicians are competing for top honours.
Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro claimed a win in the recent election. Few believe him, least of all the Venezuelan people. It is widely felt that about 70 per cent of the votes cast went to the opposition. This is commonplace. Many dictators stage-manage elections and claim victory.
One of the most blatant examples of dishonesty is the current American election, where former president Donald Trump’s campaign speeches are peppered with falsehoods.
Just days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of “provocation,” neatly overlooking his invasion of Ukraine 30 months ago.
Japan, a particularly law-abiding country, recently forced its prime minister to resign after a political corruption scandal came to light. The disgraced prime minister said, “politics cannot function without public trust.”
Closer to home, several Canadian politicians claim they can lower taxes while maintaining or even improving services. This is appealing. We all want to believe we can get something for nothing – the “free lunch.” However, most of us are adult enough to understand this is “pie in the sky.”
In Barrie, our city council claimed there had been “consultation” about the contentious waterfront sports field. It turned out only the Sea Cadets and some of the field sports clubs (soccer, football, lacrosse and rugby) were consulted.
Talking to each other, we learned that naturalist groups and environmental clubs, not to mention nearby residents, had been left out. The general public remained unaware of this project until about two weeks before the council vote. Hardly the mark of broad consultation.
It now appears the waterfront site was not the sports groups’ choice; it was simply the only site on offer.
Several field sports groups would prefer a site with several fields. The Sea Cadets wanted the waterfront site, for parading, because it would be near their future “home.” However, this depends on them moving into the Southshore Centre. The extensive construction needed to accommodate them remains unfunded and it will be years before shovels hit the ground.
Spending $4.6 million — not including a clubhouse, with power, washroom and change facilities — on a combined parade ground and sports facility is premature and may not be required. The Sea Cadets don’t need bleachers, lighting, chain-link fencing or a synthetic turf surface, all of which are costly extras.
Many of our politicians seem to be addicted to secrecy. A year ago, Premier Doug Ford announced that nuclear reactors would be built to meet the expected increase in electricity demand. A GE-Hitachi Small Modular Reactor (SMR) at Darlington will be first. There are plans for three more at the site.
Unfortunately, Ontario’s government will not reveal how much the reactors will cost, the price of the new power produced, or responsibility for cost overruns and construction delays.
The cost of electricity produced by SMRs is estimated as $0.163/kWh. My electricity bills show distribution and transmission are $0.11/kWh. That boosts the cost of SMR power to $0.27/kWh, which is much more than we pay now. Building them will cost $1.2 to $2.7 billion each – if we build 85 units.
The single Darlington SMR is estimated to cost $12.7 billion, and additional units may cost less.
This SMR will be GE-Hitachi’s first ever. What could possibly go wrong? Nuclear power plants almost always exceed their budgets, often by two to three times. They often take far longer to build than promised. So, who covers construction delays — the province (meaning us as taxpayers) or the builders?
Let’s make it personal. You want a new car, but the dealer won’t tell you how much it will cost, nor the expected maintenance and fuel cost. When you arrive to collect it, the vehicle isn’t ready. You must drive the rental longer. Will the dealer pick up the cost, or is that on you?
Remember, our taxes buy these nuclear power plants, so we have a right to know.
Secrecy is the issue. How can we have confidence in governments which fail to disclose how they make decisions? Remember the uproar after the Ontario government’s announcement it would remove land from the Greenbelt for housing subdivisions?
The reason soon became clear. These Greenbelt properties had been bought (cheaply) by developers because they couldn’t be developed. But if the land was rezoned residential, their profits would be huge.
Premier Ford walked back the plan and apologized.
It would have caused less embarrassment if the public had been consulted.
I would like everything governments (federal, provincial and municipal) discuss and do be made public by default. Governments should be required to “ask permission” to keep some of their decision making under wraps temporarily. Of course, they must be disclosed eventually.
Governments make decisions on our behalf. Surely we, the source of government revenue, have a right to understand the reasoning behind the actions taken on our behalf.
Long term, the best way to deal with extravagant political promises is to expand education’s “Three R’s" (readin’, ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic) by adding “reasoning” and the ability to distinguish fact from fiction.
Of course, that will not yield rapid results, but within a decade or two Canadians should be less susceptible to “conspiracy theories” and other internet nonsense.
We should make that an education priority now.
Peter Bursztyn is a self-proclaimed “recovering scientist” who has a passion for all things based in science and the environment. The now-retired former university academic has taught and carried out research at universities in Africa, Britain and Canada. As a member of BarrieToday's community advisory board, he also writes a semi-regular column.
