Democracy Is Being Eroded Daily in B.C.

I submitted this letter to the Parksville-Qualicum Beach News (Black Newspaper Group) and I believe that it ran but I don't have the actual copy so I don't know how extensively it was edited (or not).

Dear Editor,
People should be very concerned about the recent actions of the Qualicum Beach Council (PQ News - Councillors must stand on votes, Dec. 4/07). Although they have since thought better of removing useful information from their meeting minutes and voted to maintain the status-quo, we should not be lulled into a false sense of complacency. Everywhere, we see the basics of our democratic system being chipped away at by politicians who find it expedient to achieve their agendas by keeping the great, unwashed public in the dark.
Based on experience in my own community, other democracy-robbing activities like the following are likely happening in many of B. C's municipalities: scanned agendas which can't be searched on-line, minutes which don't always use the same reference that the corresponding agenda item does (also making any search more difficult), unwritten and inconsistent procedures for recording minutes, not allowing the public to have input on the accuracy of the minutes (even if it relates to something they themselves have said), not always including a "Report from 'staff'" in the agenda uploads (they are sometimes distributed to council right before the meeting, removing the opportunity for the public to digest and comment), not recording Council's answers during the 'Public Participation' section of the meetings, senior staff not acknowledging/responding to residents' emails, using easily compromised and widely disparaged voting machines to count our votes (often without any formal testing), and finally, unlike in provincial and federal elections, Councils appointing the persons, usually from their own staff, who will oversee the local elections in which they are often candidates. For much more on this, check out my blog at http://vigilantz.blogspot.com and let me know what you think.