Editorial: I’d rather be fishing, too

Jeff Green | Jul 26, 2012

Editorial by  Jeff Green

Let’s see.

You have a chance to go lake trout fishing, and maybe fish for arctic grayling as well, at a remote, fly-in location on Great Slave Lake in the middle of the Arctic summer, or you can go to a Frontenac County Council meeting.

I wonder what I would do?

No, I don’t wonder what I would do.

Were I mayor of South Frontenac or the Queen of England, I’d be out on the lake in a flash.

I’ve been on Great Slave Lake in July and I’ve been at county council meetings in July, and I can attest to the fact that Great Slave Lake is an infinitely better place to be.

That said, I think Gary Davison made an error. Not in going fishing, but in asking county council to re-schedule their meeting just because a representative from South Frontenac could not be present.

It’s not as if there was anything on the agenda that put his township at risk. And it’s not as if the rest of county council were likely to take advantage of the lack of representation from South Frontenac to act against the township's interests. As long as council has a quorum, they should meet. The budget is in place; nothing can happen that has not been approved in that budget; and while Davison had a compelling reason not to be at the meeting, he did not have grounds to ask anyone else to change their own plans.

If he had to miss the meeting because of a sudden illness, or family crisis, or the weather, maybe then re-scheduling would be viable, but since he had this last-minute trip dangling in front of him as a sort of bait, he should have said, “You guys go ahead and meet; I’m going fishing.”