The Sandor Report

Hello readers!  It has been a while since I last wrote, but I have a very exciting post this time around.  My survey series with the TVBDSB Trustee candidates was so successful that I have decided to periodically carry out interviews with groups and individuals in my homes of London and Guelph.  These interviews begin with this interview with His Worship Matt Brown, Mayor of London.  Spencer and Matt at a London Lightning game Spencer:  First and foremost, congratulations again on being sworn in as the Mayor of London.  Second, allow me to thank you again for agreeing to allow me to interview you for my blog.  Although I have a modest readership, I try to use my blog to provide insight into local politics in my two homes of London and Guelph. I have prepared a few questions for you to answer and have tried to strike a balance between providing you an opportunity to discuss your vision for London, and answer some questions that Londoners m...

With the Ontario municipal elections behind us, I would now like to make a request to all of the Councillor Elects, Mayor Elects and citizens everywhere.  For the next four years, would it be too much to ask to keep party politics out of municipal affairs? To set the record straight, there are no parties in local government.  You did not vote for a Liberal councillor or a Conservative mayor.  Likewise, to all of you newly elected officials, you do not represent a provincial or federal party.  Nevertheless, over the last 10 months of campaigning, I have heard countless times refrains such as "I'm not voting for a filthy Conservative for Mayor" or "Those scheming Liberals have taken over City Hall".  What's worse, candidates not only propagated this misconception by declaring that they would be a Conservative or Liberal politician, but in fact told citizens to vote along provincial or federal party lines. For higher levels of government, it may be easy ...