COLLINS: If it’s Tuesday, this must be Kamloops
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IF IT’S TUESDAY, this must be Kamloops. I’m paraphrasing an old 1969 movie that starred Suzanne Pleshette and a whole host of actors just getting started in the business. It’s a mixture of comedy, adventure and romance. But while Belgium might have been the fun place in 1969, in 2024 the fun place on a Tuesday is at Kamloops council. That’s when Kamloops councillors try to find new wrinkles to deal with Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson.
Since council embarked on its ‘Rein in Reid’ campaign, the mayor has been shifted virtually out of any kind of city business. He can’t speak out in public because that task has now been given over to the deputy mayor of the day. The rough and ready Reid is in the middle of more than one lawsuit, he’s been accused of intimidating employees to the point of official complaints being laid against him, to the latest incident where council has voted to move him to a new office in the bowels of City Hall. He says he can work from anywhere and his latest home will be a true test of that. Hamer-Jackson says he’s going to challenge council’s decision and said they’d better get a court order.
The mayor (the man elected as mayor, that is) is also upset about someone leaking important news to the media prior to its official release. Council members and senior staff have been considered the primary suspects. No proof that I know of, but it’s actually a crime to undertake that kind of activity, isn’t it? When they find out who it is, and they will, that person could face criminal charges, and his or her career would be over. And if it were a council member, it probably would be close to the same thing.
But there is some good news for the beleaguered mayor. In the two great wars, much of the planning and brainstorming took place in those underground tombs. Allied and Axis forces made extensive use of those areas far removed from the devastation above. Same in the Cold War. So, I think the mayor should be happy with his new digs. If Vladdy — Putin, not Guererro — decided to pick Kamloops as the place to drop a bomb, Mayor Hamer-Jackson will be the most protected person in the city. Wouldn’t that be a kick in the pants!
