Painting the ceiling vs fixing the roof

From the CFHS site

Some Statistics
Here are some very impressive statistics about cats in Canada:

• 52% of Canadians own pets
• Of these pet owners, 49% have cats
• Over 50,000 cats are euthanized in Canadian animal shelters every year
• 43% of cats that come into animal shelters are euthanized
• Fewer than 4% of cats in shelters are reclaimed by their owners
• The average lifespan of cats that roam free outside is 2-5 years
• The average lifespan of indoor cats is 12.5 years

Here's a couple more:

• Nova Scotia has 55 municipalities: 3 regional municipalities, 21 rural municipalities and 31 towns. An invitation to the Town Hall Meeting on Stray and Feral Cats last weekend was sent to every one of these.
• The number of municipal government representatives who attended the Town Hall - 1 ... a councillor from Guysborough.
• The Town Hall was held in HRM.
• Number of HRM councillors who attended - 0
• Number of Animal Control staff from any municipality in NS who attended - 0
• Estimated number of stray and feral cats in Nova Scotia - 300,000

And a few more:

• number of households in Nova Scotia( from the 2006 census) 376,800
• average number of cats available for adoption on petfinder or shelter/group websites on any day in Nova Scotia 300
• average number of cats and kittens 'free to a good home' listed on Kijiji each day - minimum of 100

And one more:

• cost of having a cat killed at the vet is roughly 10 - 20% of the cost of getting the cat Trapped, Neutered and Returned
• taxpayer dollars that are spent killing cats that keep coming into to fill the 'vacuum' - roughly every two years would well exceed the cost of TNR. In plain english, TNR is actually cheaper... besides of course spending tax dollars to save lives and create healthier communities

If there was a leak in the roof, it would only make sense to repair it before priming and painting the ceilings. Otherwise, the ceiling would only look good until the next time it rained.

What time is it? This is the last weekend before the election. Whenever and wherever you see a candidate its time to remind them that you are tired of watching your tax dollars circling the drain.

Think the provincial house has no say in municipal affairs? Think again. The province controls most of the municipal purse strings and even controls how much debt each municipality is allowed to accrue in any given year. And of course all significant changes in legislation have to go through the House as well.