11 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

They have a survey out today:

 

 

https://r20.rs6.net/...3m2NtbgPEQ_sw==

[Mike K.]

^looks like a phishing URL.

[Nparker]

I am pretty sure it's a legitimate survey.

[Mike K.]

It’s usually not prudent to click on a link taking you to r20.rs6.net is what I mean.

[spanky123]

^ Fair enough but it is legit!

[Nparker]

Today on CFAX.

[North Shore]

I’m not that inclined to get serious about an organization that can’t use apostrophes correctly.  It would seem that they wasted their share of taxpayer dollars by not attending, or failing to pay attention in their high school English classes!

[Nparker]

Grammatical errors are at worst a venial sin in comparison to the degradation of democracy in the CRD.

[Nparker]

Your ‘Survival Guide to

Local Government’ quiz

 

 

Just moved to Greater Victoria? Just saw your latest tax bill and are gobsmacked? Just coming out of hiding after suffering an existential crisis because of the pandemic and climate change? This guide to local government will help you survive if you end up gasping in a municipal twilight zone.

 

1. How many souls live on the South Island:

 A) 368,000

 B) about 900,000 if you’re talking about shoes

 C) about 450,000 people

 

2. The purposes of a municipality include:

A) suing Big Oil for climate change

B) providing for good government of its community

C) building two-way bicycle paths on one-way streets

 

3. Elected local politicians on the South Island number:

A) 16

B) 100

C) 67

D) more than MLAs in the BC legislature

 

4. The acronym CRD stands for:

A) a desktop software allowing remote computer access

B) a cleaning fluid found exclusively at Canadian Tire

C) an international human rights organization

D) none of the above

 

5. The voting system at the CRD is:

A) regularly changing as the population increases

B) based on either unweighted 24 votes or 92 weighted votes based on population

C) indecipherable to Frontier, the US’s most powerful supercomputer on TOP500, reaching 1102 petaFlops (1.102 exaFlops) on the LINPACK benchmarks

 

6. Which of these statements about the CRD are true:

A) it has no taxing powers

B) employs about 1,050 staff

C) delivers services through a mind-numbing 200 plus service agreements between municipalities

D) it’s largely an unelected body

E) all of the above

 

7. The largest group of rookie local politicians are:

A) the BC Youth Parliament

B) all but one of the Langford city council

C) the four residents elected to the Local Community Commission in Salt Spring

 

8. New municipal codes of conduct allow you to complain to your:

A) barber

B) hairdresser

C) barista

D) cabbie

E) neighbour

F) all of the above

 

9. Which municipal expenditures are fictitious:

A) a $6,000 ping pong table

B) a musical staircase

C) weed filled wooden planter sidewalk boxes

D) an on-street phone charger using pedal power

E) none of the above

 

10. Major infrastructure projects typically go over budget by:

A) 45 percent

B) 86 percent

C) 45 to 86 percent

 

11. Transportation policy decisions on the South Island are made by:

A) the feds

B) the cyclist lobby

C) the province

D) the CRD

E) Caddy, the mythical green creature at Cadboro Bay

F) none of the above

 

12. Amalgamation is:

A) a word with six vowels

B) something Victoria and Saanich are considering

C) an obscenity used by sushi chefs

 

13. If an emergency happens like an earthquake:

A) stay under the desk

B) there’s no overriding regional command structure

C) start an intermittent diet

 

14. Local politicians get these freebies every month:

A) a federal tax deduction

B) a latte allowance

C) an earful
 

**********************************************************
Courtesy of the Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria

[Victoria Watcher]

They need better comedy writers.

[Matt R.]

7 - C.

[Nparker]

They can't afford better writers after paying all the local, provincial and federal taxes.