How did St. Albert Council so completely lose its democratic moorings?

Re: "Mayor ready to move utility corp along," Dec. 7 Gazette.

I have grave misgivings about this notion of a city utility corporation. I have been down on myself for not attending the public hearing on Dec. 2 and I am grateful to the livelier citizens who did attend and voiced my concerns.

Now I see that it didn’t matter if I attended the hearing. Since I am not an expert in the field of municipal utility corporations, my opinion is of no account. Mayor Heron has no regard for the non-expert opinions of the residents of St. Albert, the same people who at one time misguidedly voted this Council into office. We weren’t experts in that arena either and it shows.

In fact, I made the better choice by staying home. I would not want to mistakenly be lumped in with, as Coun. Hansen described them, that “handful of people that show up quite often”. I infer from Coun. Hansen’s remarks that these people are the malcontents and the whiners. Far better if I remain one of the voices that Council “just hasn’t heard from yet” and will likely never hear from at all. But I fear I defeat myself by writing to the Gazette: now I may get lumped in with the discredited handful.

How sad it is when the citizens of a political body are disparaged for taking an active interest in the government of that body. When did the views of the citizens become mere “political pressure”, to be ignored if those views are contrary to the views of the administration and hired experts?