Gavel comes down on painful council term
As they began, so they ended. The 2014-18 term of Niagara regional council came to an inglorious conclusion Thursday night in a sadly predictable way.
A council which has been dogged by controversy almost from its inception, is directing its CAO, Carmen D’Angelo, whose 2016 hiring is under investigation by the Ontario Ombudsman’s office, to take part in a taxpayer-funded trade mission to Shanghai, China next week.
The China International Import Expo is to take place from Nov. 6 to Nov. 10. Niagara Region’s participation, and D’Angelo’s intent to take part, became publicly known when The Standard broke a story on it on Oct. 25. The expo is being hosted by the Chinese government to promote Chinese businesses and push back against American claims of unfair Chinese trading practices, according to official statements released by Beijing. The United States, which is locked in an increasingly tense trade dispute with Beijing, is not attending the expo.
The Niagara delegation to the expo is spearheaded by Canada BW Logistics in Niagara Falls, and will include about 15 members, largely business people. D'Angelo and one regional staff member from the economic development department are scheduled to take part in the trip which costs $4,238 plus HST per person. A regional spokesperson did not say what that cost included, or if staff will also be able to file expenses related to the trip.
Earlier this week, The Standard reported that four Niagara mayors — St. Catharines’ Walter Sendzik, Welland’s Frank Campion, Lincoln’s Sandra Easton and Fort Erie’s Wayne Redekop — jointly signed a letter objecting to D’Angelo’s presence in the delegation. The specific contents of the letter have not been released, but the signatories have all said the ongoing ombudsman's investigation, the lack of information provided to council about the trip and their concern that the CAO is not the appropriate person to represent the Region, were reasons behind their objection.
Which brings us to Thursday night where it took a tie-breaking vote by Chair Alan Caslin, his final meaningful act before vacating the chair after losing his re-election bid on Oct. 22, to give the official imprimatur to D’Angelo’s China’s trip.
That it came down to a vote from the chair to decide a controversial issue seemed inevitable, especially when considering the ideological split that has dominated this past term, with the chair leading a narrow majority of like-minded councillors who have just managed to maintain their dominance.
Unfortunately, the vote came after a debate which did not really address the main causes of the objection against the CAO’s attendance – the ongoing investigation into his hiring, for instance, was not brought up by anybody.
And ironically, Caslin, who cast the deciding vote, is also under a cloud for his decision to unilaterally extend D’Angelo’s contract. That matter is included in the ongoing investigation by the ombudsman.
And then there were the multiple councillors who were absent during the vote, many of whom could have been assumed to have voted against allowing D’Angelo to attend the expo. Among these were Pelham’s outgoing Mayor Dave Augustyn, outgoing Welland regional Coun. Paul Grenier and, perhaps most notable of all, Campion himself who had signed the letter of objection.
The presence of any of those three would have tipped the vote the other way and precluded Caslin’s ability to decide the issue. But so it has gone at Niagara Region for the past four years.
Did we say a moment ago that Caslin’s vote was his last meaningful act as regional chair? Perhaps we should amend that. More meaningful was his adjournment of this final meeting, thankfully putting an end to what has been a painful four years.