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Regarding making the public to pay for the use of public facilities, Eileen Mak
wrote
 
>> It is unethical and reprehensible to require people to pay for
>> them yet again when they actually wish to use these institutions.
 
I agree that it is unethical and reprehensible, that it results in only the rich
being able to afford "culture", and the eventual total marginalization of the
institutions as a sort of high-priced colonial backwater. However, user fees are
a logical extension of the bizarre notion that "government is a business" and
the commodification of values that is the hallmark of conservative politics.
 
Hence, we can expect more of it. So let's keep up the fight.
 
jim swanson  banff, alberta