Silly hall soap opera

The will-he or won’t-he watch on Stephen Mandel remains on full alert after the mayor refused to tip his hand on re-election plans during his state-of-the-city speech last week. Instead, Mandel generated some headlines with his contretemps with deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk.

It’s worth noting that the political theatre whipped up in Edmonton of late continues to pale in comparison with the follies playing out at city halls across the land.

In Winnipeg on Friday, a judge dismissed a complaint that Mayor Sam Katz violated a section of a provincial conflict of interest law when he hosted a taxpayer-funded Christmas party at his own restaurant. A rival restaurateur had sought to have Katz thrown out of office.

But it wasn’t the most cleansing of exonnerations. In her ruling, Justice Brenda Keyser said: “Mr. Katz has exhibited at best bad political and ethical behaviour.”

In London, another court set aside two days this fall to hear a fraud case against Mayor Joe Fontana. Fontana was charged by the RCMP last November with fraud, breach of trust by a public official and uttering forged documents.

In Montreal, with seven months to go before the municipal elections, there’s a distinct lack of budding mayoral candidates stepping forward for the top job. It could have something to do with a city mired in corruption scandals. The last mayor, Gerald Tremblay, may appear before the Charbonneau commission this week to explain how he tried to bring corruption to heel in a city where rigged contracts and illegal donations were rampant and covered with the Mafia’s fingerprints. Tremblay resigned last November after 25 years in office.

And in Toronto, well, perhaps you’ve heard about Rob Ford.