Well Christmas is behind us for another year. The gifts are exchanged and opened, and good times shared.
I hope, in the dying days of 2017, you’re finding some time to breathe a little and take your rest in this tiny window of respite from the wicked, weary world just outside the door.
The snow is falling, the ice cracking and the wind howling, but inside, it’s warm and dry. Let’s just bask in that glow for a few more days yet, shall we? This mini vacation is necessary. We’re heading into 2018, which, though it hasn’t officially begun, is already shaping up to be a quite the year.
The Nickel City may have finally put the Sudbury byelection scandal to bed, when the court case against Gerry Lougheed Jr., the city’s most prominent Liberal, and Patricia Sorbara, Premier Kathleen Wynne’s former deputy chief of staff, ended when Judge Howard Borenstein dismissed the Elections Act case against the two in October.
The case may be finished, but locally, antipathy toward the Liberals — and in particular against Sudbury MPP and Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault — lingers. We see it every time we post a story involving Thibeault or Wynne. In the comment threads, words like “liar,” “traitor” and worse pepper the comments. Moderating the commentary on those stories is particularly challenging.
The next provincial election is in June. Glenn Thibeault isn’t new to the game. He must be aware of the amount of ground he has to make up with voters if he wants to preserve his job. His opponents — PC candidate Troy Crowder and NDPer Jamie West — go into the election race with ample ammunition to fire the incumbent’s way.
As in any battle scenario, advancing from a defensive position is an incredible challenge, and that’s the position Thibeault finds himself in. That said, Thibeault is an experienced politician and campaigner, and while his brand has taken a hit, he still has no small measure of popularity. The race for Sudbury will be contentious and heated, I’m sure.
In Nickel Belt, incumbent France Gélinas remains a force to be reckoned with. So far, only Liberal Tay Butt, who ran for city council in the 2014 election in Ward 12, has stepped up to challenge her supremacy. Gélinas remains popular and effective, despite her years spent in opposition.
Speaking of elections, come October, Sudbury heads to the polls to pass judgment on Mayor Brian Bigger and the Nickel City’s 12 ward councillors.
A council that came into office with promises to be transparent in its decision-making and progressive in its approach to development has found itself on the receiving end of a great deal of criticism. That it has blundered headlong and repeatedly into problems of its own making hasn’t helped, and has frustrated and angered opponents and supporters alike.
Fallout from the aborted Fire Optimization Plan lingers, and the fight over the new arena has really just begun. It’s hard to gauge the size of the opposition to The Kingsway arena site, but regardless, those against the development are passionate, organized and determined. Expect protests, zoning amendment challenges and more civil action to continue as the process moves along.
Beyond that, expect opposition to the Kingsway casino development, which has been somewhat quiet of late, to begin gathering steam as the new year unfolds. As the fall election approaches, expect candidates to emerge from the anti-casino, pro-downtown arena camps. Whether they can corner enough support based on those issues to unseat any of the current councillors remains to be seen, but it will make for a contentious and heated election.
It also remains to be seen who will emerge to challenge Mayor Brian Bigger, who parlayed his popularity as the city auditor into a solid election win. I’ve seen several people call for Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini to run for mayor. I don’t have any more insights into that than you do about that, but given Vagnini’s tendency to call press conferences, challenge city decisions and bang the populist drum, it wouldn’t surprise me if he moved to parlays his outsider status on council — a position he seems to both relish and take great pride in — into a run for the mayor’s chain of office.
Vagnini likes to say he takes his marching orders directly from those who voted for him. If nothing else, his would be an entertaining campaign to watch.
Well, that’s enough speculating for one day. There’s plenty of time once the holidays are over to dig into all that.
For now, I’m going to take that cup o’kindness I mentioned off the top, retreat to my chair by the window and take my ease. I hope you find some time to do the same. Happy New Year.
Mark Gentili is the managing editor of Sudbury.com and Northern Life.
