Born, raised, and educated as a banker in Switzerland, André emigrated to Canada at the age of 21. André found his “niche” when he was hired in 1970 as secretary-treasurer for the Hamlet of Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories. For the next 35 years his career was dedicated to local government administration in small communities in the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and British Columbia’s Kootenays. As an adjunct to his career, André participated in a CIDA-funded program working with rural district councils in Zimbabwe from 1990 to 2000. He has been guest lecturer at Capilano College’s Public Administration Program since 1994. His book “Citizens’ Hall: Making Local Democracy Work” was published by Toronto publisher Between The Lines in 2001. André is a regular contributor to Kootenay Cooperative Radio’s program “By The People.” and writes a bi-weekly column "Audi Alteram Partem" on political topics of local interest to the Nelson Daily News.André and his Northern Canadian wife Sue have two children. They are delighted by the addition of their grandson Matthew to the family.

Politics is the organization of dissent — Jacques Rancière

The Gandalf Group recently reported that the three most important issues for Canadians are the state of the health care system, the price of gasoline and, tied for third place, the increase in crime and the quality of primary education. Health care, the price of gasoline, education, and crime have one common element: top-down control. Big governments and self-serving bureaucracies control health care, education, and public safety. Big corporations and self-serving speculators control the price of gasoline. Governments hanker to be corporations and corporations hanker to be cartels.

My duty is to speak out; I have no wish to be an accomplice. — Emile Zola

The easiest way to avoid having to answer questions is to prevent questions from being asked. The Community Charter gives municipal councils carte blanche authority to ask questions, to seek the citizenry’s opinion by any means from a casual survey to a full-fledged referendum and on any subject from the colour of dog tags to the development of the most valuable real estate in town. Councils avoid asking citizens for their opinions through formal processes because the Charter gives councils the power to make all decisions. Having and exercising power is exhilarating. The council of the City of Powell River must have been high on power when it decided to save money on a referendum only to spend more on a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) to silence opponents.

As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State, “What does it matter to me?” the State may be given as lost.  -  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Municipalities throughout British Columbia will be mailing out tax notices in a few days. This will trigger a second wave of discussions about taxes; the first wave followed council debates on the annual budget (financial plan). There is more ritual than substance to property tax discussions. In most communities the municipal share of property taxes makes up less than half of the bill. What’s more, council does not control the allocation of the tax burden imposed on individual property owners. Your share is not determined democratically; it is determined by the real estate market. Your share of the cost of snowplowing next winter is determined by the profits your neighbours made when they sold their property last year.

You can say reasonably “I want five shillingsworth of salmon”; but it is ridiculous to say “I want five shillingsworth of money”. — George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw published The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism, Capitalism, Sovietism and Fascism in 1928. Shaw explained the essence of financial markets long before bankers invented derivatives and other impossible to understand (and manage) financial transactions. Shaw’s explanations are as valid today as they were then. Shaw described the money market as “that mysterious institution where your investments are made for you … with its chronic ailment of Fluctuations that may at any moment increase your income pleasantly without any trouble to you, or swallow it up and ruin you in ways that a man can never make a woman understand because he does not understand them himself.”