Much mirth last week when Vancouver Parks Board chair Sarah Blyth waited in line at Chapters to meet Nick Offerman, the actor who plays staunch libertarian Ron Swanson on TV’s Parks and Recreation.

Sadly, none of Ron’s small government views line up with Blyth’s Parks Board.

“I work hard to make sure my department is as small and as ineffective as possible,” Ron (the head of fictional Pawnee, Indiana’s parks department) once said. In Vancouver, sadly, the Parks Board could best be described as “large and ineffective.”

“It’s never to early to learn that the government is a greedy piglet that suckles on a taxpayer’s teet until they have sore, chapped nipples,” Ron said in another episode.

On budget meetings: “Once a year, every branch of government meets in a room and announces what they intend to waste taxpayer money on. For a libertarian such as myself, it’s philosophically horrifying.”

Ron’s wife pops in for a visit at City Hall and asks him, “Am I interrupting anything important?” Ron’s reply: “Impossible, I work for the government.”

I think a lot of Vancouver taxpayers think their Parks Board could use a little more Ron in their lives.