Image Credit: pixabay.com / Heblo

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Trump’s blessed defeat, Noble Creek and food store poppies

Nov 7, 2020 | 6:30 AM

IT’S A SAFE BET Donald Trump has never heard of Kamloops. If he had, he’d probably mispronounce it, then make fun of it.

But we know him. I can’t think of a single way in which the U.S. election has any serious impact on the Loops, and certainly not me personally except for one thing — the vow I made never to set foot on American soil again as long as Trump is president, and it now looks as though I’ll be released from that vow. I’ll be more than happy to visit Biden’s America and spend some money there once the pandemic is manageable.

If Trump had been re-elected, though, life would have gone on pretty much as usual other than travel.

Yet, stand on Victoria Street and talk to people about Trump. Of a thousand, 999 of them would have nothing good to say about the man.

Step across the border and talk to two people — one of them will think he’s the greatest thing since Abraham Lincoln. The fact 70 million Americans voted for him is disturbing; that so few Canadians are not revolted by him is heartening.

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Why is it that Canadians feel so strongly about the politics of another country when — tariffs and trade issues, sleeping next to the elephant and so on, aside — there’s so little in it for us?

We’re attracted to the spectacle of it all, of course, but that doesn’t explain why we’re so appalled by Trump.

It comes down to those good old-fashioned values. We don’t like the man who is clinging to the White House by his finger nails. Trump offends our sense of decency. Canadians don’t take kindly to bullies. This is reassuring because it confirms that we, ourselves, are decent people.

But anyone who thinks we’re rid of Trump hasn’t been paying attention to him during the past four years and more. One prediction has him spending some of his billions on starting up a new TV network in competition with Fox News, which is now on his hit list for projecting a Biden victory in Arizona.

Though Trump’s defeat may have very little practical effect on life here at home, it does have one very important benefit — we can stop being stressed out by him.

***

What goes on in the minds of corporate brains never ceases to amaze.

The Whole Foods grocery chain hit the news for a couple of days for banning its employees from wearing poppies. The rationale was that company policy forbids them from wearing anything that supports a cause.

It also offered up $8,000 to the Legion’s poppy campaign.

This shocking policy is, perhaps, explained by the fact Whole Foods is American owned, and the wearing of the poppy is not a major tradition in the U.S. But whichever genius decided to include the poppy under company policy should receive some kind of award for creativity in manufacturing a public relations crisis.

After being condemned in a social media storm, railed at by every Canadian politician of note and threatened with legislation, Whole Foods decided Friday that discretion is the better part of valor and made an exception for the poppy.

Maybe Whole Foods should increase its miserly donation to the poppy campaign while it’s at it.

(By the way, the National Post has a great little video out on the perennial challenge of keeping those poppies from falling off our coats. My favourite of the suggestions involves duct tape.)

***

I might have been a little impetuous when I suggested users on the Noble Creek irrigation system should jump at the chance to get 20 per cent of needed upgrades paid for by City taxpayers.

City council reversed itself this week when a delegation of users appeared at its weekly meeting pleading poverty and asking that the plan be scrapped. Indeed, even if City taxpayers pay 20 per cent, the bill for the rest of the $14 million fix would be tremendously onerous on users.

So, council agreed to go back to the drawing boards. It’s interesting, though, how opinions can be one thing behind closed doors and entirely different when facing a lobby group in open session.

At in camera meetings dating back to 2016, council took a tough stand on the issue. Various motions on studies and costs were passed, almost all of them unanimously (since being elected, Coun. Dieter Dudy, who has a farm on the system, has recused himself).

This past August, again behind closed doors, council approved the 80-20 plan, subject to formal approval by the land owners, with only Mayor Ken Christian opposed. Staff, therefore, dutifully went ahead with making preparations.

But faced with the wrath of the users in open meeting Tuesday, councillors abruptly turned tail.

To be fair, some councillors had already concluded that they’d been in too much of a rush, had not adequately considered other options, and that there hadn’t been enough consultation. The latter has been especially irksome to users.

Council’s suddenly sympathetic ear had a practical side, though — the delegation made it clear it represented most of the 47 users and that they would reject the plan via the petition process.

It suddenly became pointless to proceed.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.