I bet everyone has now heard about, raged about, laughed about, wondered about or simply been dumbfounded about Halifax Councillor Brad John’s decision to purchase a $25,000 robotic Christmas Tree using his discretionary Council funding. He has now won a national award from the Canadian Taxpayers Association for wasteful spending.
In defense of the purchase, Johns suggested it would help raise money for the food bank. This is a worthy goal, but it’s easy to question the effectiveness of his particular strategy. Johns also suggested that this Christmas Tree would help Sackville get noticed.
“There’s many communities around the province … that become synonymous with something that they do. Spryfield’s got the Santa Claus Parade. You think of Windsor, you think of the pumpkin people. I thought, ‘What better than to revive the concept of a talking tree?’ ”
Reviving the concept of a talking tree – you can’t make this stuff up. For those not familiar with Woody (the giant talking Christmas Tree who camped out around the Holidays at MicMac Mall during the 80s and 90s), that’s the inspiration for John’s purchase.