Region sheds ‘toxic environment’: Sendzik
Monday’s municipal elections may have been a breath of fresh air for Niagara Region council.
“Some of the folks that contributed to the toxic environment are no longer around the horseshoe,” said St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik.
Although regional elections don’t typically attract much interest among voters, that wasn’t the case this time around, said Brock University political science professor David Siegel.
Instead, he said, concern about regional council led to significant changes in Niagara’s leadership.
“We are starting fresh,” Siegel said. “In particular, most of … the conservative cabal is gone.”
Only eight members of the current regional council will be returning when the new term is sworn in at the first meeting in December. They include Sendzik, mayors Frank Campion from Welland, Jim Diodati from Niagara Falls, Wayne Redekop from Fort Erie and Sandra Easton from Lincoln, as well as Couns. Tim Rigby and Brian Heit from St. Catharines and Bob Gale representing Niagara Falls.
And depending on who is appointed as the new regional chair, as many as 24 of Niagara’s 32 regional representatives could be newcomers to the horseshoe.
“There are a lot of new people around the table who are going to bring a different perspective and new ideas to how we can continue to move Niagara forward. I think there are exciting times,” Sendzik said.
He said voters will be paying close attention to regional council in the months to come, “and they’re going want to see some positive changes immediately.”
“I don’t think there’s going to be an appetite to play the political games and things like that, that came to define the last term,” he said.
Campion, too, said he’s looking forward to working with a new group of people.
“I’m hoping it’s going to be a whole different regional council. Let’s just do what’s best for the region,” he said.
“Dec. 1 is Day 1 … Let’s get on with a fresh start and let’s not get into all this funny business. Let’s just move forward.”
Siegel said the first few months of the new term should be interesting, as the councillors get to know one another.
“It’s maybe somewhat unfortunate that one of the first things they have to do is select the person to be their leader for the next four years, when they don’t know each other very well,” he said, adding it’s “an awkward situation to be in” for the incoming councillors.
Campion described selecting the regional chair as “critical.”
“It should be interesting to see who comes up on top of that one. We need somebody who is going to be non-partisan, open-minded, collaborative and in certain respects, humble.”
Considering newly elected councillor Jim Bradley’s years of experience at Queen’s Park, Siegel said St. Catharines’ former MPP is an obvious choice to lead regional council.
“He’s going to be one of the first people who come to mind for a lot of people,” Siegel said.
Asked Monday night if he’d be interested in the job, Bradley said he wouldn’t rule it out.
“There will be a number of people who maybe putting their names forward, so I think it will be premature to make any commitment at this time,” he said.
The election also meant the loss of representatives with decades of experience such as George Marshall from Welland and Bruce Timms from St. Catharines, to name a few.
But Sendzik said “experience doesn’t equal good governance.”
“I believe there’s something to be said for fresh thinking, and new ideas when it comes to government.”