Time for another Monday Morning Quarterback—five things we’re pondering out here on Canada’s left coast this week.

1. Interesting story in the Vancouver Sun about a brown fir longhorned beetle hitching a ride form China in a box of Christmas decorations ordered by B.C.’s government liquor stores. But the story glosses over one interesting fact—these decorations alone cost government $182,000—and you can bet they weren’t the only decorations ordered.

2. Poor Terry Siklenka, the former Central Saanich city councillor, who was forced to resign after moving to the Cayman Islands in the midst of a six-month paid leave. He says he had to quit due to “unwarranted attacks.” Actually, Terry, you had to quit due to the fact you no longer live in the city, province or country you were elected to serve. If there was an unwarranted attack, it was launched on taxpayers by you and the council who approved your leave.

3. TransLink’s ten top executives billed taxpayers $110,000 from Jan. 1 to Sept 30 this year for such transit system-operating essentials such as parking, gas, vehicle maintenance and insurance. Great find by the CKNW newsroom and another sign of the disconnect between the TransLink executive suite and the taxpayers and riders they claim to serve.

4. This Prince George columnist is so wrapped up in golf, he doesn’t realize he shot his own case to keep PG taxpayers funding Pine Valley in the foot:

These were Green’s words, and they were echoed by Wilbur:

“From my perspective golf is a sport that’s not gaining in popularity, it’s not growing, it’s in decline. If people want their roads paved, they have to understand there might be some things council needs to choose that’s going to generate some new revenue for us.”

Green’s words about the state of golf raise eyebrows. While it’s true Pine Valley’s numbers have dipped, golf across the board is hardly suffering. According to the Golf Research Group, there has been a 6.2 per cent decrease in participation levels in the U.S. in the past two years but, worldwide, 56 million people still play. Fifty-six million!

So taxpayers should keep the course event though golf is declining (and the number of courses in PG has grown.)

5. It will be interesting to see where this is going:

W2 is a 10,000 square foot space in prime real estate in downtown Vancouver- by getting this space for free, Oostinde was able to secure a subsidy from the city worth 100’s of thousands of dollars. Oostinde raised money and donated it to Vision [Vancouver], it’s rumoured that W2 could be in a significant amount of debt. It’s time to bring in an independent auditor to examine W2’s activities, funding and spending.

And, Vision needs to give-back the money that W2 donated to their fundraiser. It can be their first test in proving to us that there’s been no funny business here. Next, it’s time for some Freedom of Information requests…