Hotel Gate, Coquitlam's non-story, limps along into another week. I apologize in advance for my part in resuscitating it.
So Coquitlam city councillors attended a conference and stayed in a hotel downtown instead of taking SkyTrain or the bus home each night, or carpooling in a Smart Car.
Tut, tut.
Give it a rest, Andy. This is about as indictable an offence as a city supplying French Vanilla Creamo for city hall's coffee room.
Our city representatives should attend the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference. It's an important civic conference and should be a command performance for councillors to learn, share and network with other Canadian municipal officials. It's not unreasonable for them to attend and participate fully, and that includes staying at the venue.
I wouldn't even object if they rode the seawall. Gosh, my permissiveness would even extend to allowing them to have a glass of wine without having to reassure Tri-City whistle blowers that it was the cheapest plonk they could find.
This non-scandal was trolled up by one city councillor who commuted to the conference, participating just enough to allow him to criticize his own council colleagues. It was just another stunt in the tiresome single tune he sings about government waste.
And swallowing the bait whole is my government-averse colleague, who trumpets the treason. Apparently, he thinks councillors should have bid through Priceline.com for the best deal at the Days Inn and slept five to a room (continental breakfast and internet included!).
But the most ignoble thing about Hotel Gate is listening to the mayor and council have to defend their attendance at this conference.
We all know that no conference goes from 7:30 a.m. until midnight, nor should they.
And trying to quantify the fiscal benefits of attending the conference is an impossible exercise. Anyway, the benefit of attending conferences is professional, not fiscal.
This game of government gotcha keeps us rooting around for petty scandals to sell a media willing to continuously advance the theory that our government is our enemy. It's a silly, counterproductive and purposely distracting strategy.
I hope Coquitlam's mayor and councillors benefitted from and enjoyed the FCM conference and that they will stop making excuses for their legitimate attendance.
