Skip to content

Put waste in the hands of private sector

organic waste, Victoria, Dean Fortin

In your article “Organics back on city’s table” (News, Aug. 24), the sub-head says “Public will vote on preferred waste collection option.”

Politicians love to obscure the truth by presenting matters in this fashion, but the fact is that “the public” does not vote nor does it have a preference. Those are the actions and attributes of individuals. Mayor Fortin’s assertion that “residents will make the choice of which service they would like” is another such attempt at euphemism. Residents will not make the choice they like, but rather they will indicate which service they prefer in the hopes that their preference becomes the one-size-fits-all policy that will ultimately be forced on everyone.

There is only one way residents will all be able to get their choice of the options available to them, and that is for the city to withdraw entirely from the provision of waste disposal and leave it in the capable hands of the private sector. The politicians won’t like it, because it’s one less thing they can manipulate to their advantage, but that should not concern the taxpayer one iota.

Dave Killion

Victoria