Broken promise another two-fingered salute

News that the Government has broken its promise to hold regional council elections in Canterbury next year is yet another demonstration of the disdain it has for true democracy, Labour’s Local Government spokesperson Annette King says.

“When National replaced Environment Canterbury Council with government-appointed commissioners in 2010 my then colleague Brendon Burns described it as a two-fingered- salute to voters.

“The Government’s decision today to extend their term, thus denying Cantabrians a vote for another three years, is, in anyone’s terms, another one.

“The earthquakes have become a convenient excuse for everything this Government does – or doesn’t do.

“My suspicion is that this latest u-turn is a pre-cursor to regional amalgamation on a grand scale.

“If the Government has tasked its commissioners with preparing the way for a southern ‘super city’, then it should be upfront about that.

“Cantabrians are sick and tired of being treated like idiots. Why, as ratepayers, should they be at the mercy of a group of people they have had no say in electing?

“They didn’t want this three years ago. They don’t want another three years of it,” said Annette King.