Make it free and fair

Of all the important aspects of self-government and democracy, holding free and fair elections tops the list. The Sahtu Secretariat is finding out how difficult a job that can be.

Last August's election for chairperson of the Sahtu Secretariat was thrown out after a ballot box went astray. Now, in the rescheduled election, a communication mix-up involving campaign literature has created a perception of favoritism.

The good news is that secretariat staff, while defending themselves against criticism, appear completely committed to fixing any problems, real or perceived. That approach more than any other will ensure the Sahtu gets a proper democratic election.

Taxi companies in this city could use a little less municipal government regulation and a lot more self-regulation -- which would save everyone time and money, but especially time.

Earlier this year there were two cabbie kerfuffles of note.

In one instance, the city told one cab company its licence was going to be revoked. In the other instance, the city wanted to severely regulate the age of cabs on Yellowknife's roads.

Fortunately neither initiative was carried out to completion.

Now the city is making cab drivers fill out log books that detail each trip the cab makes, how many passengers get in and how much money the ride costs.

And bylaw enforcement officers can pull cabs over at any time to make sure that the logs are being completed after every fare and filled out correctly.

That some of the cab drivers agreed to such a regulation earlier this year is irrelevant. Such regulations are foolish at best, and, at worst, bureaucratic and unnecessarily overbearing.

Certainly the city has a right to collect fees from those who operate taxis within Yellowknife's municipal boundaries, which amounts to a business tax.

However, safety regulations for taxis and any other vehicles on city, territorial or federal roadways should be taken care of already through territorial transportation laws.

Fare limits, numbers of cabs and cab companies should certainly be determined by the market.

And as far as log books and collection of fares is concerned, that should certainly be left up to the discretion of the individual cabbie or the taxi company he works for, not city hall.

The only time the municipality should be forced to temporarily restrict or regulate a cab company is when operators take advantage of their monopoly to charge unjustifiable fares to prevent competition or if operators compromise the safety of the passengers.