The Garden City Refugee

On the Campaign Trail

February 20, 2025

Tidbits from the campaign as several candidates vie for the role of the MPP for St. Catharines:

• Jennie Stevens and the NDP have been particularly aggressive in these parts, likely because she knows she’s in a dogfight with fellow socialist Sal Sorrento, the candidate for Uniparty’s blue faction. With the far-left radical Robin McPherson, the candidate for Uniparty’s red faction, sucking off votes from Stevens’ traditional base, Sorrento could sneak in. Not that I relish the possibility of Sal becoming my MPP, but I would welcome Stevens’ defeat.
• As I’ve already noted, the NDP accused Doug Ford of shady tactics by calling unsuspecting Ontarians who didn’t give him their phone number. Yet someone from Stevens’ campaign called me and I’ve never given them my number.
• As a city councilor, Robin McPherson has been in lockstep with Mat Siscoe in leading the charge for massive property tax increases. Then she had the gall to talk about an affordability crisis and cutting taxes. In other words, trust me to “fix” a problem I helped create. Several people left her comments on Facebook to that effect. One, in fact, went on to say that Bonnie Crombie, the leader of Uniparty’s red faction, made a massive error in approving her nomination. McPherson responded by pulling a page out of Sorrento’s playbook and hid those comments. If you can’t handle that kind of comparatively mild but well-earned criticism, it’s time to get out of the political arena.
• Sal Sorrento recently posted a shot of himself at the Grantham Lions Club spewing forth a bunch of Doug Ford-sanctioned BS to a captive audience at a breakfast. On the table in front of him was a piece of yellow paper promoting a fertilizer sale. How fitting. His next posting featured a video showing a Jennie Stevens sign in front of a house. And this guy undoubtedly wonders why people like me call him a buffoon.
• The people at Cogeco recently hosted a debate for local candidates. In a serious affront to the democratic process, however, they only invited Uniparty candidates. In 2022, even the left-leaning GNCC invited all candidates to their debate at Club Roma. Naturally, Stevens and McPherson were there, but as usual, Sorrento took a pass, no doubt following orders from People’s Commissar Ford. It’s apparently available online, but I didn’t bother watching as I’m sure all it amounted to was a couple of socialists bickering about how much more of my money they want to steal.
• Rob Atalick, the New Blue candidate who I’ve already voted for, made reference to the Cogeco debate in a recent email, stating that the conservative candidate didn’t show up. No, Rob, the conservative candidate (i.e. you) wasn’t invited. I’m assuming he was referring to Sorrento, but Sal and the rest of Doug Ford’s minions are no more conservative than Jennie Stevens. That Ford has completely betrayed his traditional conservative base is, in fact, the reason why the New Blue Party even exists.
• I remain shocked at how many are still referring to the Doug Ford Party as the “conservatives.” Save for the color of their election signs, Ford’s government has been pretty much indistinguishable from the Kathleen Wynne Liberal government he replaced.
• Fearless prediction: If Jennie Stevens loses this election, she will run for mayor in 2026. In that event, a small part of me will want to vote for her to oust Siscoe. A very small part of me.