The format of a My Take is 150 words – no more, no less – to express an opinion on a different topic each week. This week’s topic was public figures with personal opinions.
By Matthew McCully
When you hold a public office, you forfeit your right to share your personal views in a public forum.
You can still be a human, and do all the human things, and have all the human feelings, but when it comes to what you share, your comments are inextricably linked to the position you hold.
It’s baffling to me that Orford MNA Gilles Bélanger felt it appropriate to add his signature (à titre personnel) to a letter published in the Reflet du Lac opposing a development project in Magog, part of his riding.
As a private citizen, the power you have is your voice and your vote.
But when your voice and your vote carries with it the weight of the provincial government’s representative in the region, you remove any possibility of the developers in question having a fair shake.
A businessman should know better.
