Don't like staff work on statutory holidays

To the editor:

I had an idea over the Canada Day celebration and I wanted to share it with you. My wife and I enjoyed the holiday with a leisurely breakfast in the backyard. The silence of the morning was only broken by the sound of the garbage trucks picking up the weekly garbage.

Canada Day, July 1, was also the implementation of the HST. I'm not going to complain about the HST as I understand all levels of government need more money to balance their budgets.

I would like to raise the question, however, why garbage men getting statutory holiday pay were in fact picking up garbage on the holiday.

Would it have been a big deal if they picked out the garbage the next day at the regular rate?

I'm sure taxpayers, given the choice of paying more taxes for such a service or waiting another day, would vote overwhelmingly to wait another day.

While I understand the confusion to the public in trying to change a collection day, I know that if a resident's garbage pick-up is on Christmas Day, one knows that there won't be garbage pick-up and one will "watch the street" or check in the yearly calendar to see when the next pick up is. The same policy should be for Canada Day.

I would ask that when the collection schedule for 2011 is discussed that one strongly consider an alternative to pay on a statutory holiday. After the garbage strike, a resident could put out "extra garbage" on the next pick up. I believe most residents would rather wait a week, with their garbage, than pay more taxes.

It's in everyone's interest to be wise in how we spend our money.

Kevin McNaughton