No Mayor Peary, most emphatically NO – spending $50,000 of taxpayer’s money was neither well done nor worthwhile.

However it was typical profligate spending behaviour by Abbotsford city staff and city councillors.

Fortunately I take my shoes off at the door when I first step inside and so had no shoe to throw at the television as Mayor Peary stood there on the news proudly boasting of successfully bribing the Japanese speed skaters and the Russian figure skaters to practice at Abbotsford Recreation Centre prior to the Olympics with $50,000 of taxpayer’s money.

As much as I need to swim to maintain mobility and minimize the pain and mobility problems my back causes, I can no long afford a monthly pass because Abbotsford city council has chosen to make city facilities the most expensive places to exercise and recreate in Abbotsford.

It is not just me. Many men, woman, children and families cannot afford to swim or skate at city pools and rinks. Increasing numbers of families cannot afford to have their kids participate in sports activities such as soccer, swim teams etc because of the usury level of fees the city charges for the use of playing fields and facilities.

At a time when health professionals are stressing the need for participation in sports and recreation to exercise for health, the City of Abbotsford is pursuing fee structures, behaviours and policies that not just discourage exercise but out and out deny or severely limit access to city recreation and exercise facilities for the poor.

Ironic is it not? The city is paying the Japanese speed skaters and the Russian figure skaters to use a rink that many of its citizens cannot afford to, using exorbitant taxes and fees charged citizens to pay for this latest council superfluous and spendthrift frittering away of taxpayer dollars.

This type of spending is why Abbotsford is the third most expensive city in Canada to live in.

If this expenditure was such a benefit to business in Abbotsford, as the Mayor implies with his claim of a $150,000 economic benefit, why did council not raise the money from the business community?

Could it be because as businessmen the usual financial and/or economic sophistry used by governments to justify this class of wasteful spending does not impress, nor mislead them?

As if it was not bad enough that I cannot afford more than minimal access to city facilities because of the need for excessive fees to subsidize a professional hockey team, now users of city facilities are subsidizing nations (Japan, Russia) and their nation sports teams?

Let city staff, council and anyone else who thinks spending $50,000 to induce the Japanese speed skaters and the Russian figure skaters to ARC is a good use of the Abbotsford’s limited funds ante up the $50,000.

Then lower the fees for ARC to reflect that $50,000 so that the increasing numbers of those who are not well off can afford to use ARC’s facilities for exercise and enjoyment.