OUR SHINY NEW COURTHOUSE

The difference between a man and a boy is the cost of his toys. I have no idea who first coined that phrase but it's a good one. My corollary is "The difference between a big politician and a little one is the cost to the taxpayers". Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story by Luisa D'Amato "How can we justify our shiny new courthouse?". According to her we can't. To date I have seen no serious attempt by politicians or bureaucrats to do so. "It was the Ontario Liberal government which decided to pour $766 million into the megacourthouse for construction and operating costs.". Over 3/4 of a billion dollars for one building! Are they nuts?

If I truly had any reason to believe that the quality of our justice system would improve, I might not be so disgusted. Instead we will continue with second rate justice or no justice with even emptier taxpayer pockets. Luisa has a big bone to pick with how Cambridge has been treated. Let's see: they get more taxes and reduced services all the while now having to commute to Kitchener. I live in Elmira and as part of that choice expect some government services to be further afield such as hospitals and courthouses. If I lived in Cambridge I'd be livid. Time, expense and inconvenience. Kind of reminds you of how they're being treated in regards to the LRT (light rapid transit) doesn't it?

Getting back to the "need" for this shiny new toy; all I can say is the old buildings dispensed psuedo justice perfectly well. Human errors, incompetence, maliciousness, laziness and pettiness will all survive the trip down the street to the new and improved (?) building. Luisa has trouble understanding all the new and expensive security features including surveillance and an explosion proof building. I don't. The authoritiies and politicians know they have pissed off the people and they fear the worst. Stop your psychopathic and paranoid behaviour as well as wasting our money for your grandiose schemes and go back to simpler less expensive times.