Party politics rears its ugly head ... if only for a minute

Federal, provincial political parties don’t run candidates at municipal level

It was a bucket of worms that St. Catharines Regional Coun. Sal Sorrento likely wished he hadn’t opened.

Sorrento spoke up when the planning and economic development committee chair asked if anyone had any declarations of pecuniary interest.

“I’m going to declare a conflict,” Sorrento told Pelham Coun. Diana Huson, the committee chair, Wednesday. “Do you need the numbers or just the agenda item?”

When told report numbers were needed, Sorrento rattled off the designations for staff reports on a pair of the governing Progressive Conservative government’s provincial policies.

The first report was on Bill 97 and proposed amendments to the Planning Act. The second was about the proposed provincial planning statement.

“You also need to mention the reason for the conflict,” Huson said.

“Do I have to?” Sorrento replied. “Yes,” Huson said.

“I do?” Sorrento asked. “OK. I’m a candidate of record, and I’m not going to go against the provincial policy.”

The moment passed without comment, but Sorrento, who ran for the Progressive Conservative party in the St. Catharines riding last June, had opened a partisan bucket, if just a crack.

In Ontario, federal and provincial political parties can’t run candidates at the municipal level, and any show of partisanship at council level is frowned upon.

Regional Chair Jim Bradley, who served in the Ontario legislature for 41 years as a Liberal, likes it that way.

Bradley prefaced his remarks by saying council members can declare a conflict whenever they choose, and it’s not his role to comment. He then quickly added the “lack of partisanship” at the municipal level is refreshing because it allows “greater flexibility” in decisionmaking.

“If you’re at the provincial or federal level, it’s all partisan,” said Bradley

After the meeting, Sorrento said declaring a conflict was a mistake because the vote was about receiving the reports, not their contents. Asked if he would declare a conflict again when council has issues with provincial policy, Sorrento replied, “La culpa e la Mia (The fault is mine). There is no room for partisan politics at the municipal horseshoes.”

St. Catharines Coun. Laura Ip said she is concerned when a colleague makes decisions based on an allegiance to a particular party.

“If he’s going to declare a conflict every time something comes forward that could be construed as critical of the provincial government because he’s ‘not going to go against’ them, how can residents be sure that he’s voting in the best interests of what his role is at the Region?”

Port Colborne Coun. Fred Davies also ran unsuccessfully for the Progressive Conservatives in Niagara Centre last June before he was acclaimed in October’s municipal election.

“My only role is as a regional councillor here in Niagara,” Davies said. “While there are councillors who have run for all parties, or are affiliated with all parties, my view is that we are non-partisan.”

Bradley said we only need to look south of the border to see what happens when political parties are involved at the municipal level.

“They will have a Democratic or Republican mayor and council members and so on,” Bradley said. “We don’t have that here. That’s a great advantage. Each of us at the municipal level has to work with whatever government is elected by the people nationally or provincially.

“That’s what I do as regional chair, and I’ve been impressed by the fact that I see, by and large, no evidence that our municipal councillors want to approach things from anything but an individual point of view.”