To Ms. Rivard,First, I would like to make an apology, on behalf of the public, for any damage that was done to your or other local, honest and committed, businesses by Tim Bousquet's article. I would also like to say that this apology should not come from Mr. Bousquet, who was honest about his opinions, clear about where the line between fact and interpretation lay, and, in my view, wrote the most informative article (that is, based on facts he accumulated from research he had done himself on a topic you and others felt should no longer be discussed but about which the public still had questions) I've read in any paper in a long time.
I'd also like to thank you for responding: it is good to know that he was not entirely correct in his assessment of the Commonwealth Games 2014 bid. I am happy to confirm my belief that there were local businesses who had an honest interest in what the committee intended to accomplish, and in contributing, through the Commonwealth games, to the community here (and to sports in general, as local support is essential to athlete training). Your skills would have obviously been useful, and I am sorry the opportunity to further use them didn't arise. However, I must ask, why was yours the only letter of protest? Why was a local small business owner who cares deeply about her community the only one to protest the views expressed in the article? I'm sorry that you were targeted for criticism, but to "move past the embarrassment" is to ignore the role old money plays in local politics everyday. Why did Mr. Bousquet have to "expose" your involvement with the bid? This should have been a matter of public record: it's a stellar example of how , "Everything do, everything do, is...to support the community.”* Why did the committee not bother to give credit to the local businesses who aided them? Why do those who hired you not feel the same outrage that you do? The frustration you express should not be directed at Mr. Bousquet (whose investigation was not lacking, but a blatant admission of the obstacles presented by a secretive administration and his, self-admitted, unguided attempts at interpreting the information they were required to reveal), but toward the people who paid you for advertising they were not willing to back up, and who were not even willing to declare they paid you, let alone give you the credit you deserve for the work that you did. Once again, the people who make up and support the local community (people like you) have been dismissed by those who think they run the local community (the "old boys' network"). Tim Bousquet did us all a favour: he gave the community an opportunity to assess the facts in an ongoing debate, and The Coast gave you the opportunity to answer his questions. That's democracy. Thank you both for participating. I wish there were more.Sam C.
By sam c.
