Diodati, Craitor split over OLG money, trains
Mansour promises to bring more investment to city as mayoral candidates debate
Distinct — and quite different — visions for Niagara Falls are emerging in the race for mayor.
Three of the four candidates for the city’s top elected position in the Oct. 22 municipal election squared off in a televised debate Wednesday night.
In the hourlong broadcast by Cogeco from its McLeod Road studio, Mayor Jim Diodati and challengers Coun. Kim Craitor and businesswoman Dinah Mansour fielded a range of submitted questions.
“We’re on the verge of greatness,” said Diodati at one point, calling Niagara Falls the “envy” of other municipalities because it has used the roughly $26 million it gets annually for hosting the casinos to pay down its debt, rebuild and modernize parks and keep tax increases at or below the rate of inflation.
“Niagara Falls has experienced the greatest time that it’s ever experienced, as of late” with a new hospital and regular GO train service expected within the next five years.
Craitor, though, said “it’s time for a change” because during Diodati’s eight years in office, “we’ve been over-promised so many things, but really we’ve been under-delivered.”
He said: “I know there are all these wonderful, pie in the sky ideas. I understand that. You have them all.
“But really, a council and a mayor’s responsibility is to the basic services of the public. That’s what they want.”
Mansour, meanwhile, declared off the top she doesn’t want to be thought of as a politician — unlike Diodati with seven years as a councillor and eight as mayor, and Craitor with 17 years on council plus 10 as a Liberal MPP.
She said she is running “as a businesswoman and a mom” and wants to attract more investment to Niagara Falls, and to build an airport in the city.
“I will chase opportunities and deliver,” said Mansour, who with her husband operates an international trade and investing firm. “I am young, ambitious, motivated, stubborn and an awesome negotiator.”
The fourth candidate for mayor, Kip Finn, had work commitments and was unable to attend.
The sharpest exchanges came during a question about how the city can best use the annual funding it receives from Ontario Lottery and Gaming as a casinos host.
Craitor said he recalls when he was an MPP in the Liberal government, “sitting in the premier’s office with the minister of finance, saying it’s unfair the way we share the OLG money because Niagara Falls only got $3 million” at that time.
Craitor said he told the premier and finance minister the city should get a percentage of the gross revenue, and later “Niagara Falls got $25 million.”
He said he advised the finance minister that the city should ask residents’ opinions on how to spend the money, “and I remember because I was successful in getting the funding from the province.”
Diodati responded it was him, with Niagara Falls chief administrative officer Ken Todd and economic development director Serge Felicetti, who worked out the funding deal directly with the premier’s office.
“I was quite surprised to hear Kim’s comments,” Diodati said, because “Kim called us a number of times after the fact and asked us to explain to him how (the agreement) worked.”
He said of the $26 million the city got this year, half went to infrastructure like roads and sewers, $6 million was used to control tax increases, $4 million helps pay for extra policing near the casinos and the rest is put toward the new hospital and for economic development.
Mansour said she would use the money to provide low-cost housing, and to feed and help educate children.
The three were asked how the mayor could help restore integrity at Niagara Region headquarters following recent controversies over the process used to hire a new CAO and then the regional chairman unilaterally extending the CAO’s contract.
Diodati said he would be “very much in favour” of shrinking governance in Niagara generally, with fewer politicians and staff overseeing fewer municipalities.
Craitor said the city’s elected representatives at regional council, especially Diodati, were too quiet when troubles emerged.
When it was revealed construction of the Burgoyne Bridge in St. Catharines was more than $30 million over budget, he said “I’d have been jumping up and down and screaming to say this is wrong, I want it investigated.”
Asked about the sometimes “confrontational” nature of city council meetings, Craitor said it comes mostly when councillors don’t feel their questions are answered properly by staff.
“When you ask questions that you feel the taxpayers have a right to know, and you don’t get answers, you do get frustrated,” Craitor said.
“Maybe you call that confrontation, I call that truly representing the people who elected you to ask those questions.”
Diodati said “overall the majority of our council is very much team-based, very much understand that we row the boat together. But some people, they like to antagonize, and there is nothing you can do about that.”
He said “if you see someone that is always antagonizing the other councillors, you need to take a second look at where you want to put your X” on the ballot.
The three were also asked about an issue that has bedevilled city councils for generations — the trains that cross through the city, frequently stopping traffic and occasionally breaking down on the tracks.
Craitor said he doesn’t believe CN and CP operators are interested in rerouting trains to avoid the city and called for drastic action.
“We can do all the studies were want and spend all the money we want, at some point we have to make a tough decision,” he said. “And we’ve got to be forceful with them.
“I may sound a little off the wall, but at some point do we just say, ‘we’re going to block the trains.’ Either you work with us … or we’re going to stop your trains coming through the city.”
Diodati said he and city staff have had high-level talks with both rail lines, and they are interested in rerouting trains away from the city to avoid liability, the risk of a crash or spill, and having to slow down while passing through the urban areas.
There are 14 level crossings, he said, and studies show it costs about $25 million to build an underpass or overpass for each crossing.
“I’m as frustrated as anyone else because the trains now are three or four kilometres long, they block the city” and if the other option is to build an overpass, “the minute you build it we’re committed to CN or CP forever.”
He said “there are tracks already, we can get the trains around the city. I’d rather put money into getting them out of the city than spend $25 million for an overpass. And how many of the 14 do you do?”