Caslin defeated after four years of issues
Vote result is only second time in history a regional chair has not won re-election
After four years of controversy — including his lobster dinners at taxpayer expense and his unilateral decision to extend the contract of the Region CAO — Regional Chair Alan Caslin has gone down to defeat.
For only the second time in the history of Niagara Region, an incumbent chair has not been returned to council by voters. Former regional chair Wilbert Dick was defeated in an election in 1991.
Caslin placed 19th out of 23 candidates on the ballot for six regional council spots Monday night. Caslin, who won only 1.43 per cent of the votes cast, placed fourth in 2014.
The defeat of Caslin was part of a larger sweep of incumbents from regional council Monday night. A voting bloc sometimes labelled “the cabal” of largely conservative-minded councillors, were cast out by voters across Niagara.
Sandy Annunziata of Fort Erie, Selina Volpatti of Niagara Falls, Tony Quirk of Grimsby, Brian Baty of Pelham and Bruce Timms of St. Catharines were all defeated. Other members of that alliance — Bart Maves of Niagara Falls, David Barrick of Port Colborne and April Jeffs, the mayor of Wainfleet — did not run for re-election.
The only member of the group returning to office is Niagara Falls councillor and current chair of the Niagara Regional Police services board Bob Gale.
Also defeated was regional chair hopeful and Mayor of Pelham David Augustyn. Both Caslin and Augustyn had registered to campaign for the position of regional chair, which was to be an elected position until Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancelled chair elections across the province.
Both men elected to run for regional council seats.
Caslin’s turn as regional chair had been marked by a series of controversies.
Council came under fire early in the term when it decided to fire its integrity commissioner and give itself a pay raise.
When The Standard reported on councillor expenses — including several expensive meals billed to the taxpayer by Caslin — he refused to discuss how and
why he was spending the public’s money.
Caslin was also a signatory to a memo sent to former Standard owner Paul Godfrey — the CEO of Postmedia — in 2015 that accused the paper of “manufacturing the news” and “intimidating politicians.”
More recently, The Standard reported that members of Caslin’s staff created documents that were at the heart of the tainted hiring of Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo in 2016.
As those stories unfolded, Caslin admitted to council that he had unilaterally extended and amended D’Angelo’s contract — extended its term, giving him highly unusual termination clauses in addition to a golden parachute.