I could write a book on how Federal (and Provincial) politicians destroy tax-payer value for personal gains, whether its tinkering with climate change objectives to gain votes, short-sighted stimulus expenditures, using Canada’s messed-up equalization payment to get back at Premiers or using taxpayer money and public fund to promote their political parties.

However, this blog focuses on municipal issues and local politicians are not all that innocent either.  Check out what can be done with all the money Chicago will save because it lost the Olympic bid:

… finance a great engineering college, an online university serving tens of thousands of students, an electric car manufacturer, a bunch of high-tech businesses, a free wireless Internet covering the entire city, and still have a lot left over.

Will Chicago do any of this? Of course not.  Spending borrowed taxpayer dollars on a two-week spectacle gives politicians an opportunity to spend some time on national and international limelight that helps them advance their personal agenda.  Spending that money on long-term interest and wellbeing of taxpayers achieves none of that. 

The key, IMO, is to add a ballot requirement for all large-scale borrowing.  Mayor and Municipal Council should lose the ability to debt-finance a project without public explicitly approving it.  Is it efficient? No!  Will some good projects go unfunded because taxpayers did not understand the value? Sure.  Overall will this benefit us by clipping politicians’ wings? Heck yes!