Haldimand County Council is supposed to be off this month - hopefully it will work out for them.
In each of the last two years the scheduled month without meetings didn't work out that way.
In each of the last two years, council was called in for special, emergency meetings and there were enough of them that July seemed like any other month.
This year should be different.
The ongoing negotiations between the federal and provincial governments and the Six Nations are taking a break.
The provincial government and the federal government, in particular, also seem prepared to do their utmost to ignore the county so it's doubtful that any announcement of a program to help Haldimand weather the current economic storm is unlikely.
The Six Nations and the City of
Hopefully, this will make for a quiet month.
Council may also want to consider new ways to approach the federal government.
To date, they have put a lot of effort into developing a recovery plan and pushing it forward. They have also come up with other projects that would help the county move ahead. To say that councillors have been less than pleased by the federal response would be an understatement.
They have fumed, fulminated and sent off more letters. Weeks or months later they would get letters back bureaucratic boilerplate. That would set off another storm and more letters with the same result.
The provincial government has seemingly been more receptive. County politicians and officials have met with their provincial counterparts and are at least talking about what can be done. While there is as yet nothing concrete, there remains hope - however faint.
For the next month council won't be around to send off more letters to the feds. Maybe the weekly epistles will be missed. Maybe federal hearts will soften as they ponder the gap that has been left by the lack of mail from Haldimand.
I doubt that any of that will happen.
But if Haldimand decided not to send anymore letters through August and September maybe the federal government would conclude that one part of this country believes that communicating with the federal government is a waste of time and energy.
Maybe the county should also stop meeting with anyone representing the federal government. The federal government might like that for a while, but over the long run it would hurt.
Nothing irritates politicians more than making it obvious that as far as you are concerned they are a complete waste of time and that you are unwilling to waste your time.
The county has been in a serious position for more than two years and local politicians have been serious about dealing with it. They have made proposals and issued propositions. They have very little to show for their efforts.
The federal and provincial governments know what faces this county. They know what the county needs.
It is all in their hands. If they choose to ignore the reality the county has so carefully laid out, the results will be on their heads.
It is time for the federal and provincial governments to take the initiative and it is definitely time for county council to take a bit of a break.