🇨🇦 Lytton Gets $50M in Overbuilt Infrastructure It Can't Afford to Run

A village of 75 people is being saddled with a six-lane swimming pool and emergency operations centre funded by Ottawa and Victoria, with zero plan for how to pay the operating costs. Former mayor Jan Polderman and current councillor Jennifer Thoss warn of inevitable bankruptcy while the chief financial officer — working remotely from Halifax — pulled in $574,000 over two years, matching salaries in Victoria. Meanwhile, Lytton still has no grocery store. This is disaster recovery as ideological performance art: build the infrastructure, hire the consultants, ignore the math, and let the locals drown in maintenance bills.

The feds and province committed $49 million for a community hub and firehall serving a population that declined 15 per cent even before the 2021 fire. The plan is to hike property taxes and hope for growth that shows no sign of materializing. This is managed decline dressed up as nation-building.

🍁 Maple Chronicles