The Garden City Refugee

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

October 25, 2022

The good, the bad and the ugly of the municipal elections . . .

The Good

• Lora Campbell was re-elected as a DSBN trustee and of the two really horrible candidates, only Kate Baggott made the cut, with Mike Brousseau on the outside looking in.
• I was thrilled to see Betty Disero given the boot as Lord Mayor of NOTL, as was incumbent councilor Allan Bisback. I don’t know if Bisback is any good or not, but I presume the latter since I spotted many of his signs alongside those for Disero.
• Leanna Villella was re-elected as a regional councilor for Welland.
• In the Falls, former federal NDP candidate Carolyn Ioannoni lost her bid for a regional council seat.

The Bad

• I was sickened to see Walter Sendzik re-elected Mat Siscoe Sendzcoe elected as our new mayor. He talked about how humbled he was. “Our victory” he called it. No, it’s his victory. And our loss. Part of me would have rather seen Sendzik stay on than have Siscoe Sendzcoe replace him. However, there could be a bright side to Mike Britton’s loss as he would now be free to contest the local CPC nomination for the next federal election. I hope he does, as Krystina Waler needs to go. Yesterday.
• As expected, Dawn “I love my pollinator gardens” Dodge and Bill “How dare you question city staff” Phillips were easily re-elected in Grantham. It still makes me wonder why they bothered to drop so many brochures at my door. Or why they even bothered to come to my door at all. Even the slimeball Chris Bittle knew better than to waste his time coming to my door when canvassing on my street.

• In Merritton, it came as little surprise that Greg “Tampon Boy” Miller was re-elected. I was, however, surprised to see that the Sendzik-endorsed Jennifer Mooradian lost and even more surprised that former PPC candidate Rebecca Hahn showed well in what had to have been hostile territory for her.
• I was seriously disappointed to see left-wing extremists Robin McPherson and Caleb Ratzlaff elected in Ward 4, though at least the so-called Spencer Bellows DeWolfe wasn’t. If he seeks office again, he would be better advised to run under his own name instead of that of his late mother. He might also be better served devoting his efforts to winning over voters who live in his ward instead of people like me who don’t.
• New Blue regional organizer Kristen Halfpenny lost her bid for a Fort Erie town council seat.

The Ugly

• Only 26% of eligible voters cast a ballot in St. Catharines. You can’t complain if you didn’t cast a ballot. It wasn’t any better in the Falls or Welland, though at least 47% turned out in NOTL. Worse still is that likely even fewer took the time to research the candidates as I did. Such as the guy down the street from me who had a Mike Britton sign on his lawn alongside one for Haley Bateman.
• The prospect of Haley Bateman taking a seat on regional council alongside the ghost of Jim Bradley and Laura Ip is enough to make me vomit. With any luck, however, their influence will be counteracted by more moderates like Peter Secord. Sadly, Sal Sorrento, the town buffoon, also made the cut, but at least Alicia Marshall, Trecia McLennon, Sabrina Hill and the union hack Dennis Van Meer didn’t. Nor did incumbent Brian “The self-appointed voice of reason” Heit, though he could still get in if the ghost of Jim Bradley is re-appointed as regional chair. BTW, I want to know where Bateman got all that funding for those billboards she had plastered around town.
• Andrea Kaiser, the former federal Liberal candidate, was elected as the regional councilor in NOTL. Yuck. It likely helped that she saw the wisdom of leaving her picture off her signs, unlike what she did in the last federal election.
• With a margin of less than 2,000 votes, former provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath won her battle to stay on the public payroll and will become the new mayor of Hamilton. Boy, are they going to be sorry.