Many of the topics that I have written about have been sparked by conversation around coffee tables at our local restaurant. There are not many days go by that some topic doesn't come up that sparks memories, passions or solidly held opinions, leading to an in-depth discussion. Lately, when the topics of stewardship of money come up, it has usually been brought up by some article about the mismanagement of money by some First Nations' government.
Over the last year it seems there has been one scandal or another where some band or level of their governance has gotten themselves into trouble by spending recklessly and using funds in inappropriate ways. More than once I have heard comments that this is nothing more than we should expect from these governments giving the impression they are naturally incapable of properly handling their finances. To me these comments are short sighted and of course based on prejudices that have no foundation and surely show a lack of knowledge about the subject of governments handling our funds. My rebuttal is that if they have shown a problem in morally managing the peoples' hard earned tax money, they have learned well from watching our federal and provincial governments since the early days of European government in Canada.
All one has to do is look into the recorded history of this country to see there has seldom been a governing group who have not had their monetary scandals. Right from the start there is documentation of the bribes that John A. used to get the railways built, to the corruption in the Indian agents who sold native lands that were of high quality to in turn, give them lands that were of no use to anyone. Then, of course, these agents pocketed the profits and shared them with politicians of the day.
Then, as we advance, there was John Diefenbaker's raping of the aerospace industry in Canada, and the sponsorship scandal that has basically destroyed the federal Liberal Party. The latest is the corruption in the contracting industry in Quebec for a provincial example and we can't forget the conservatives of Grant Devine's times in this province. These are just a very few examples and barely touch the surface of government corruption that has graced the pages of newspapers and the headlines of our radio and television news broadcasts. If we look farther afield we can find examples of corruption and scandal that have infected every government in the world, no matter whether they are so called democracies or some other kinds of autocratic, dictatorial or monarchist system.
When I see someone pointing a finger at another group I am always reminded of an old proverb that says before you point a finger at someone you have to look after the fingers that are pointing back at you first (go ahead hold your hand out with the index finger alone pointing at something and see where the others are pointed). As is so often the case, when someone or some group is loudly proclaiming someone else's faults they are trying to misdirect attention so we do not concentrate on them to see what nefarious things they are up to. Such is the case of the rhetoric we see at election times.
It seems no matter what the group or party, once they get into power, they do not have to match up to the standards they tried to make their opposition live up to. Once a group gets too used to power, morality falls by the wayside and then anything goes and the only mistake is getting caught. So, to those who are critical of the problems we see within First Nations' governance, we have to be careful about how we point our fingers at them when we have so much cleaning up to do in our own back yard. We all need to realize the term "honest government" might truly be an oxymoron.
Sept. 8, in Kaiser play first place went to Beulah Corbeil, second place was cornered by Linda Ard, third place went to Jean Gansauge and fourth was won by Anna Tucker.
In contract bridge Sept. 12, first place went to Robert Iverson and second was taken by Judy Iverson. Sept. 19, it was Eric Callbeck taking first with Robert Iverson coming in second.
In duplicate bridge Sept. 13, the team of Ray and Marnie Davie placed first with Lucille Gregoire and Marlene Bridges coming in second. Sept. 20, first place went to Eric Callbeck and Jerry Fernandez with Bea Novlan and Jim Hamilton taking seconds.
Quote: "In civilization and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honoured that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office." Ambrose Bierce
