What promise? Richard is running again

Richard Collins should keep his promise of three years ago and quit municipal politics for good. That would be the honourable thing to do.

But the lure of the top job in Montague is too great for the town’s longest serving mayor. He sees blood. He sees the ability to make a comeback, which he knows will drive his long-time rival, current Mayor Pat McGowan, more than a little antsy.

Richard Collins is not doing the town any favour by running. He may very well win. He has a strong political machine. But what benefit is winning if it results in four more years of Montague being the Gong Show of municipal politics on Prince Edward Island?

Richard Collins claims this election is about the future. He is right. But he is dreaming in Technicolor if he thinks he is the right man to lead the town into that future; his political baggage is just too great.

Is he the right man to make the necessary changes for growth? Is he the right man to understand the changing economy? Is he the right man to understand the very real pressures being faced by taxpayers and businesses in rural municipalities? Is he the right man to bring opposing sides together?

After 30 plus years, Richard Collins’ time has passed.

It sounds harsh, but look at the record. What new visionary items did Collins push during his last term as mayor? That election was supposedly about the future too. It’s a term most noted for his taking pot shots at McGowan. Remember his comment that Rotary is the place former mayors go to retire. It was said in front of McGowan. (Mayor McGowan, by the way, was equally adept at such immature shots across the bow.)

Since losing in 2006, Collins has found his per diems as a member of the Eastern School Board. Did he show a forward thinking vision there?

No. He didn’t say a word when the south side of the town was selected for the new high school, a decision that flies in the face of educational requirements and the demographic reality of our region. He didn’t utter a word of support when the board decided to orphan Montague Intermediate.

During the school closure debate did Richard Collins defend rural PEI? No. He sat on his hands and didn’t say a word. Then he voted to shut schools based on a process that a provincial court judge found seriously flawed.

Richard Collins was one of the people instrumental in driving that flawed process forward. It’s a process that has led to elementary school children jumping on three busses just to get to school every day.

That is not vision. That is accepting a failed process without first asking the necessary questions about the impact the decision will have.

Richard Collins has had his day. Now it is time for someone else to take the helm.

Montague needs someone new to step forward, preferably someone removed from the debacle of the last few years.

The town needs someone who can put an end to the immature antics at town hall. It needs someone who can build bridges not walls. The town needs someone who can look to the future and see beyond the usual small town political rhetoric.

We need someone who can see the potential and knows how to deliver it.

What promise? Richard is running again

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