Needs of permanent residents should outweigh those of seasonal residents

Aug 29, 2007

To the Editor:

The ability of seasonal residents and year-round residents to get along in this area is fast becoming an impossibility. It is becoming an impossibility because rules and regulations designed in southern Ontario for southern Ontario are being forced upon the people that live in this area.

The heritage, culture and way of life the people here enjoy is no longer in their hands. Those that live here permanently are now in the minority. Seasonal residents have become the majority in a lot of area municipalities. Simply put, if year-round residents vote for an individual and all seasonal residents vote for someone else, they win.

Canada is recognized as a multi-cultural society, and for the heritage, culture and way of life in this area to be preserved, its custody must be in the hands of those that live here permanently. Not in the hands of seasonal residents.

No one should have to live under the thumb of an absentee landlord. Imagine living under a level of government seated with people that do not depend on the area’s economy for their livelihood; people whose children do not attend its schools; (people to whom) area job creation is not their concern nor their priority. Imagine being governed by people that are more concerned with what they see on the way to the cottage, or at the cottage, than they are about employment opportunities for our graduating students.

“I believe this to be in violation of basic human rights.”

In Canada, no matter how much wealth people have or how much property they own — be it in every province, coast to coast — they only get one vote in a Federal Election: in their permanent residence.

In Ontario, people may own a home or property in every riding in the province yet only get to vote once in a Provincial Election: in their permanent residence.

Why should anyone in Canada have to live under any level of government that is determined by the wealth of an individual or how much property they own? Today for municipal representatives, people get to vote based on how much property they own, not where they live, and that is government by wealth, not democracy.

When the provincial government bestows upon the municipalities the ability to take away from people living in rural areas rights and privileges they have enjoyed since prior to Confederation, those decisions should be made by the people that live in the area, not by those that visit on weekends or vacation in the area. Whether it be area Official Plans, zoning, bylaws, etc., common sense and common decency says the needs of permanent residents should outweigh the needs of seasonal residents.

I do not believe the founding fathers of this nation could ever foresee the present situation in which people that permanently reside in an area lose control of it to those that do not.

True democracy cannot be based upon wealth, but on the fundamental basic principle of one man, one woman, one vote, where you live in permanent residence.

I respectfully request Tony Clement MP, and Norm Miller MPP, to look into this flagrant violation of basic human rights and work diligently to rectify this situation.

There is nothing wrong with having wealth or being wealthy, but there is something wrong if it is used to keep others from getting it.

Gordon Zulak
McKellar