Political discussion becoming ‘polarized’: Bennett
Mayor Daryl Bennett says the tone of political discussion has shifted dramatically so politicians at City Hall are being “smeared” and their reputations are being attacked – and he’s concerned it could hurt good decision-making at the municipal level.
“I’m sure you’ve all noticed the shift in tone of the conversations about where we’re going as a country, as a province or as a city,” he told Rotary Club of Peterborough at a luncheon at the Holiday Inn on Monday.
“We’ve become more polarized. Increasingly, debates are framed with the mentality of ‘If you’re not with us, you’re against us’ – a mentality that is at odds with the traditional Canadian values of tolerance, respect and diversity,” Bennett said.
“And with that increased polarization of the debate, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing a rise in demonizing those we don’t agree with – or worse, smearing people’s reputations. Because if you don’t agree with them, they’re obviously corrupt, evil people in some minds.”
Although the mayor typically gives a state-of-the-city address to Rotarians at a lunch meeting in early January, this time Bennett chose to “take a biggerpicture look” at the state of political debate.
Perhaps the tone has been set by U.S. President Donald Trump and his supporters, he said, but one way or another Bennett says there’s a lack of civility in political discussion – even at City Hall in Peterborough.
For example, Bennett said he’s been the target of a series of online missives that have argued he stands to profit from having a casino near a property he co-owns on Rye St.
Starting in the summer of 2017, a group calling itself People for Peterborough started publishing tweets claiming that the mayor has a conflict of interest in the location of the casino because it could increase the value of his property on Rye St., about 600 metres away.
The Examiner never found a local citizen who claimed to be a member and any correspondence from the group came from an encrypted email address based in Switzerland.
As he told The Examiner in a yearend interview in late December, Bennett said in his remarks that he doesn’t have a pecuniary interest – and if anybody thinks he does, they should challenge him in court.
Bennett told the Rotarians anyone accusing him of a conflict has not revealed their identity or brought forward a court challenge because they fear retribution.
“And they should – their comments are false and defamatory,” Bennett said.
But Bennett also spoke of Coun. Henry Clarke, the city’s deputy mayor, as having been treated unfairly.
Some citizens were unhappy with Clarke’s vote in favour of selling the publicly-owned electricity distribution system, Peterborough Distribution Inc. (PDI) to Hydro One.
Bennett called Clarke a “straightlaced, old-school type gentleman” who “had his integrity challenged” through those debates.
“Henry has been genuinely hurt by the change in public discourse,” Bennett said. “That’s how preposterous this has become.”
Although public consultation is “essential,” Bennett said council was not elected to vote according to the Facebook messages and tweets they receive.
They ought to take those opinions into consideration, he said, but councillors should also ask questions of city staff, do their own research and ultimately make up their own minds about what they think will be best for the city in the long run.
“Public consultation and engagement is essential to our democracy,” Bennett said. “But my belief is that our elected representatives are more than just windsocks .... They’ve been elected to make decisions on behalf of the community.”