A new mayor A new era Old rules

John Rodriguez has served his city and his country well. We owe him a debt of gratitude for his public service. His time as mayor, frankly, is a small part of his rich and colourful political legacy. That said, his plaintive departure the other night — “I was blamed for everything from ptomaine poisoning to the gout, to doing all the roads in an election year, not having done anything for four years, the Elton John matter, the legacy projects, the St Joseph’s hospital and on and on and on” — was unbecoming and out of character.

Long before there was a Tea Party movement in the United States Rodriguez was a one-man left wing Tea Party in this country — himself holding crown corporations, Liberals, Torys and occasionally his own party (the NDP) to account for behaviour of which he disapproved. He was outrageous, smart, respected, feared and, no doubt, disliked by many quarters. He has much to be proud of and will no doubt regain his sense of humour before putting down the gavel for the final time next month.

Rodriguez just got out-smarted this time by someone who played his own game better than he did. Marianne Matichuk ran a brilliant and simple campaign and Rodriguez summed it up nicely. Some of the brains behind the show knew what they were doing. Rodriguez beat the lack-luster front runner campaign of David Courtemanche four years ago much the way Matichuk won this time. But let’s not forget the busy little ghost of mayoralty campaigns past — Jim Gordon — who seems to pop up on the winning side with regularity. Rodriguez had lost Gordon as a supporter quite some time ago. All is fair in war and politics.

That said, this election wasn’t just about local strategy and tactics. Something was going on in northern Ontario.

In Thunder Bay two-time elected Mayor Lynn Peterson was soundly defeated by another political neophyte Keith Hobbs, a retired police officer. A week before the vote, Peterson was confident she would be returned and more annoyed about the quality of debates than the prospect of losing.

In Sault Ste. Marie, the hand picked successor to long time popular Mayor John Rowsell, councillor James Caicco, was soundly defeated by councillor Debbie Amaroso. In Dryden, long time and high profile Mayor Anne Krassilowsky lost to Craig Nuttal.

In North Bay ex-Tory MPP and deputy mayor Al MacDonald took 87 per cent of the vote. In Timmins, the only remaining incumbent in northern Ontario’s larger cities — Tom Laughren — won in a walk. Still, we have new mayor’s in Blind River, Wawa, Kenora and Sioux Lookout.

None of this compares to the absurdity of Rob Ford as the mayor of Toronto. It is incomprehensible a man of such limited capacity and knowledge could lead the country’s largest city — but these days old assumptions are lost.

Toronto has been sent back to the dark ages.

The theme, across the board, is outrage at the real or imagined sense of entitlement our politicians have acquired.

Things are not easy out there and people are no longer interested in grand schemes when their own lot is going nowhere. If you connect with your voters you win. If you lose them with unattainable visions or arrogance, they throw you out on your ear in a New York minute. Punishment can be fast and unforgiving.

In Sudbury something else is happening. For most of its life, Sudbury has been a labour town. Get the support of the unions and the NDP and you had a big leg up. At the end of March, Steelworkers Local 2020 declined to support its brethren at Local 6500 who, at that time, had been on strike for nearly nine months. It was unprecedented and unimaginable. As one union leader put it at the time, our brothers are scabs. It was the beginning of what looks like a sea change in the politics of Sudbury.

Not surprisingly, the labour council came out in support of Rodriguez. That usually means good numbers and superb talent in getting out the vote. It didn’t happen. Something is different.

Matichuk has a powerful mandate but an old council. The mayor cannot succeed without the support of her council. Presumably, if they wanted to open up store hours or do a line-by-line review of the budget, they would have done it already. That said, the mayor was elected on these issues and the councillors were elected on ward issues. Her point of view should prevail.

What matters now is Matichuk’s campaign for her council. If she is half as successful with them as she was with the electorate, she too will have a political legacy of which she can be proud. More importantly she will need to earn the trust of her employees. They are comfortable and no doubt nervous and can cause her no end of headache if they don’t buy in to her style and objectives.

We wish our new mayor good luck and trust the indomitable spirit of Sudbury will again prevail. When the election is over we come together to build this city that always needs our attention. Sustainability is the question and taxes (as important as they may be) are a small part of that pie.

Michael Atkins is president of Northern Life.