ith the world price of crude oil going into the tank followed by natural resources, the declining Chinese economy together with LNG production in B.C. looking more remote every day, it does not take a genius to understand that the governments of Canada, and B.C. in particular, are facing a severe financial crunch as revenue declines.
Like it or not, we live in a global economy.
The federal government has just committed Canada to an expensive war in the Middle East resulting in added financial stress on federal coffers and hence Canadian taxpayers.
All of these factors could easily add up to another recession.
As sure as day follows night, senior levels of government will start to download services to the municipal level.
With that backdrop in mind as we prepare to mark our ballots in the upcoming district election, we need to be extra careful how we mark those ballots and we need to minutely examine each candidate for where they stand on restraint and holding the line.
We need to elect people who will hold the line on expenditures and taxes. We need people who will make the hard decisions, who will protect the taxpayers and small business of Sooke from any further increases.
Most of us are stretched to the limit and indeed, many are beyond their limit.
This election is about whether or not we hold the line or go deeply into debt with a resulting increase in taxes.
D. R. Matland
Sooke.