Who's there?

Every once in a while, government departments and agencies like to go on little trips to collect input from the public - it's called a consultation process.

The results from these sorts of events varies. In the case of the finance minister's recent tour of the province preceding the provincial budget, there were a number of groups present to greet him and make their cases for receiving help.

The end result was a number of concerns were addressed. More money was put towards the promotion of breastfeeding babies, as had been requested by a local advocate, and the provincial prescription drug plan was expanded to allow workers entering a higher income bracket to continue benefiting from the plan.

Whether those measures were already on the government's mind, who knows? But they heard local voices speak on those matters, and speaking out is important.

Over the last year, there have been other events held which have attracted far fewer bodies. When the Town of Gander held a public meeting to receive input on its Integrated Community Sustainability Plan, two people showed up.

Would one ideally think more people would be interested in expressing their opinions on community sustainability to the sitting members of council? Perhaps.

But, is it surprising so few people came? No, not really.

You could say the same for events held in Gander within the last year by the Department of Justice and the Municipal Assessment Agency. Both were hoping to hear from the public on matters relating to their work, but nobody showed up for their meetings.

What is it? Are people intensely busy? Are they not hearing about these sorts of events? Are the groups planning them doing a poor job of getting the word out? Or do people just not care?

It's probably a combination of all those factors, and the last one is particularly troubling. Many people have a cynical outlook on government bodies. They may be inclined to think they run introspective units that only want to give the impression of taking the public's thoughts into consideration.

People who think like this may be right, or they may be wrong - maybe partially so, in both respects. One thing is certain though - silence rings a tad too clear.

info@ganderbeacon.ca