#munipoli Matters - ISSUE 28 - Hamilton councillor recruited to run for Liberals
A veteran Hamilton city councillor is lured into provincial politics, while a Mississauga MPP is facing perhaps an opponent greater than those looking to unseat her in June
Welcome to another issue of #munipoli Matters, where we deep dive into the sometimes often underreported area of municipal elections, along with local government and politics.
This week features a prominent local Hamilton politician looking to make a transition to Queen’s Park and a rather spicy story out of Mississauga involving an allegedly spurned lover and his politician ex.
So let’s get right into it.
Hamilton City Councillor runs for Ontario Liberals
Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr, who has represented the downtown ward since 2010, was nominated to run for the Ontario Liberals in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek for the June 2 election. Last year Liberal Chad Collins, the former Ward 5 Councillor, was elected to represent the same riding federally.
This riding is currently held by MPP Paul Miller, who was in the NDP until he was recently kicked out of caucus for allegedly being part of an Islamophobic Facebook group. Miller denies the allegations and says he plans to seek reelection as an Independent using ‘burnt orange’ as the colour of his election signs.
If Miller remaining on the ballot leads to a split in the NDP vote, then the chances of Farr getting elected becomes somewhat more likely. Should Farr win, he would have to resign from council, making him the fifth incumbent not to seek reelection to Council. That would theoretically put into play the ‘lame duck’ scenario.
However, there might not be just dissension amongst the NDP that may be bubbling on the surface; there are some progressives that aren’t happy with Farr’s candidacy either. Deirdre Pike, a longtime social activist who was recruited to run as a Liberal under Kathleen Wynne in 2018, tweeted this:
Pike is referring to a call by Farr to speed up encampment evictions while on council. Despite the councillor’s insistence that he is ‘returning to his roots’ in Stoney Creek, many have pointed out that his current constituents can’t even vote for him as MPP.
Meanwhile, Liberal leader Steven Del Duca was asked about a bizarre story happening just up Highway 403 in Canada’s (now) seventh largest city, Mississauga.
Former Mississauga council candidate sues ex-lover MPP
Grant Gorchynski, a chartered accountant who spearheaded an effort to add an extra station on the Hurontario LRT line, is now suing his ex-girlfriend, Tory MPP Natalia Kusendova, for over $50,000 alleging she leveraged her position for personal gain.
According to the story from the Toronto Star, Kusendova said approximately $30,000, in the form of 13 wire transfers from Gorchynski, were “a gift” but Gorchynski counters that the MPP ‘constantly abused her position and requested loans’ when they were together. Gorchynski subsequently ran for Mississauga City Council in Ward 4 during the 2018 municipal election, losing to incumbent John Kovac.
In her statement of defence, Kusendova accused Gorchynski of getting involved with her romantically for the sole purpose of lobbying for the LRT station and “exploiting her political office to do so”, saying there was no expectation of repayment. The Mississauga Centre MPP also accused this being a smear job “six weeks before the (June 2) election”.
Kusendova added that her ex-partner provided her means to pay off her student debt, “like many young Ontarians who receive help with student loans from family and loved ones”, saying Gorchynski is now a ‘disgruntled ex-boyfriend who reappeared in her life’ She got married last year and Gorchynski says he got engaged recently.
The Ontario Liberals have already released a response, asking if Premier Doug Ford was aware of this matter. “These are serious allegations that warrant investigation by the province’s Integrity Commissioner and possibly even the police. If the Premier was aware and did not bring these to the Integrity Commissioner’s attention, then that too should be investigated,” Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter said in the party’s statement.
Kusendova, the Parliamentary Assistant for the Minister of Francophone Affairs, is running for reelection in Mississauga Centre for the Progressive Conservatives. The other candidates are Sumira Malik from the Liberals, the Ontario NDP’s Sarah Walji and Adriane Franklin from the Green Party.
In other news
Pictou County, NS: A municipal councillor in Nova Scotia is on trial for 24 alleged violations of the Municipal Act. Peter Boyles, a councillor from Pictou County, pleaded not guilty and his 10 day trial is scheduled for September 23.
Half of the charges are for voting when he was not qualified to do so and the other half are for violating the town of Trenton's alternate voting bylaw. The violations involve 12 different people over a two-week period, some of those stemmed from helping some seniors at a nursing home e-vote using his phone.
Boyles was helping his half-brother, Don Hussher, run for mayor in the town of Trenton. Hussher won the race defeating the incumbent by 62 votes in the 2020 election.
Surrey, BC: Mayor Doug McCallum will go on trial on Halloween 2022, October 31…some 16 days after the October 15 municipal elections across British Columbia. If that wasn’t scary enough, McCallum has hired defence lawyer Richard Peck, who was on the legal team for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
The trial is for a public mischief charge from a September 4 incident, in which McCallum claimed a member of the group opposing Surrey’s police transition ran over his foot outside the South Point Save-on-Foods on 152nd Street.
McCallum, 77, first served on Surrey City Council in 1993, becoming mayor 3 years later until 2005 when he was defeated by a councillor within his own party at the time, Dianne Watts. He became mayor again in 2018 after incumbent Linda Hepner served only one term from 2014-2018.
Prince Edward Island: While most of the attention lately on municipal elections has been on Ontario, British Columbia and Manitoba, one other province that has municipal elections is Prince Edward Island. The “birthplace of Confederation” will be holding municipal elections this year as well.
I don’t have word yet on any major players running for mayor and council in even the two only cities on the island, Charlottetown and Summerside, but I thought I’d give out some basic information about how municipal elections are administered on PEI.
Voting day is on November 7, 2022. For PEI, municipal elections occur every four years on the first Monday in November.
Elections PEI, usually in charge of administering provincial elections, is contracted to administer the municipal elections in Charlottetown, Summerside, and the towns of Cornwall, Stratford and (beginning in 2022) Three Rivers.
To be eligible to vote, one must be 18, a Canadian citizen, a PEI resident for at least six months before the election date, and be an “ordinarily resident” in the municipality on election day.
With only about 154,000 residents, according to the recent census, the condition about being ‘an ordinarily resident’ of the municipality is quite important as the population likely fluctuates on a seasonal basis as tourists flock to PEI during the summer.
Ensuring that those who vote are residing the majority of the time there is quite important when it comes to establishing one’s legitimate right to vote. You don’t want to end up with another weird Mike “oh, I live in Cavendish” Duffy situation!
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