2010 grade: D-
2009 grade: D
If you’re ever looking for the stereotypical disagreeable ex-cop, a guy who chews marbles when he speaks and has no time for sensitive feefees, Barry Dalrymple is your man.
Don’t get me wrong: Dalrymple’s put-upon disposition and no-patience-for-fools manner are his good points. But Dalrymple earns a failing grade for three reasons.
First, he poisons the political rhetoric with his disingenuous argument that Fall River is getting screwed in the tax/services calculus; it’s not, as any fully equipped-thanks-to-amalgamation volunteer firefighter will tell you.
Second, Dalrymple has a perverse understanding of his role. “I don’t need to answer [residents’] calls on snowplowing,” he told council, saying that he tells his complaining constituents to call the city’s call centre and leave him alone. He was elected to contemplate philosophical issues, he told council, and in order to do all that philosophizing he wants a district office and full-time staff. Just don’t try calling him.
Third, Dalrymple wanted to hook councillors up to lie detector tests in order to find out who leaked information to the press, saying no innocent person would refuse to take the test. It’s disturbing that an ex-cop would hold such contempt for civil liberties; it’s outrageous that a councillor does.
How to improve: Take your constituents’ calls, maybe smoke a little dope.
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City council report card 2011
This article appears in May 12-18, 2011.
“Third, Dalrymple wanted to hook councillors up to lie detector tests in order to find out who leaked information to the press, saying no innocent person would refuse to take the test.”
Using this train of thought, he shouldn’t have a problem taking a lie detector test himself if he needed to be asked to explain what he knew, and when he knew it, hypothetically speaking that is.
tell it like it is Tim.
The man is as useless as teats on a bull.
He’s on a nice RCMP pension of at least $50,000 and now has councillor pay of over $70,000. Another of the two income retirees in the chamber.
or a screen door on a submarine
Miserable Rep.
1. Metro/water taxes are put on FR residents and they get none. Plus anytime we want community developement we need to Tax oruselves to death. The city, gets anything they want, under the guise that “the whole community can use it”. Look at the oval, no one in the rural areas went there. Even as far as sackville people barely went. Great for all the people in Halifax, not so good for sackville and futher.
2. Try putting yourself in his shoes. you got around 30 community organizaitons you help out with. Then you got the commitees you got in the city. Then you got te average perosn who bitches like crazy about not getting plowed. If I were barry, I’d direct my phoen calls to the clal center too. Cause ya know, Barry cant plow them himself, and getting one person to play relay to where it should go is pretty bad.
3. Least we can get the crooks weeded out of Halifax.
Rather than go with the word of a volenteer fireman, I think it’d be interesting to actually see a breakdown of property tax collected in district vs tax dollars spent in district before shooting down this arguement. Is this information even available? It should be!