Sometimes I wonder if public engagement in the political reason is a good thing.
I know in the past, I and other Barrhead Leader reporters have written about the need for the public to be engaged in the political process, whether it be at election time or public hearings on a rezoning a parcel of land — ordinary citizens should take every opportunity to voice their opinions and be informed.
And for the most part I still believe that, but after the July 7 open house hosted by Arnold Viersen, see story on page 11A on what residents would like to see in the federal government’s defence policy, I am starting to waiver a bit.
Not that I didn’t want people to attend the event. Actually I was quite pleased to see so many attend the round table especially considering only two nights previous in Westlock only two people attended, but I wonder sometimes if the general public is qualified enough, on the workings of not only the military, but the state of world wide political affairs.
For example, during the public hearing an audience member said one of the things he would like to see is an increase in the number of CAF bases in Canada in an effort to increase their ability to respond to emergencies and disasters at home.
Certainly a valid point. However, in making his point he said there was only two CAF bases, one in Alberta and one in Ontario, and if a disaster happened on Vancouver Island armed forces would have to be deployed from Alberta.
As a former B.C.er, I can tell you there are closer military bases for personnel to be deployed to Vancouver Island to in case of a localized disaster. CFB Esquimalt, just outside Victoria, comes to mind.
Now he might have been purposely exaggerating his case to prove a point, but maybe not.
Another example is the Sea King helicopter. I remember when I was in high school the PC government, under Brian Mulroney said Canada needed to replace the aging machines (then over 20 years-old). The public at the time, and I was one of them, said it was too costly and the old Sea Kings still had some life in them until the government could find a better solution.
The Liberal government, under Jean Chrétien, came to power soon after and cancelled the helicopter contract. Shortly after that the Sea Kings started, literally, falling out of the sky. It turns out the military really did need the helicopters, despite public opinion.
My point is the public doesn’t have the knowledge or expertise for every decision the government needs to make.
Does that mean citizens shouldn’t attend events like the one hosted by Viersen or that they should just blindly follow the government? Certainly not. Go to every event that is reasonable and try to be as informed as possible, but realize, on occasion, we have to have faith that our elected officials are doing what is best.
