Municipal politics in Ontario are speculated to be freed from party politics.
But many Kingston, Ont., council candidates have strong ties to provincial and federal parties.
In line with some experts, there’s a gray area where party politics can play a think about municipal races.
“Inevitably, party influences will seep in on the municipal level,” says Tim Abray, a political studies PhD candidate at Queen’s University.
“So while we don’t have formal partisan political structures on the municipal level, plenty of the people involved in municipal politics will belong to parties at other levels.”
One council candidate, Zachary Typhair, has strong ties to the Green Party.
He ran for the Greens within the last provincial election, and he has been endorsed by each the interim federal leader and provincial leader of the Green Party.
But he believes that party politics shouldn’t play a job on the municipal level.
“In municipal governments, it’s much more necessary to not be backed by anybody but yourself, so that you would be able to represent your community first,” says Typhair.
“That’s why I haven’t accepted any donations from big developers, or anybody that may have a conflict of interest into how city governments operate.”
Also running in Portsmouth district is Oren Nimelman, who has strong ties with the NDP.
“I bleed orange,” says Nimelman.
He has been endorsed by multiple former NDP candidates, and sits on the NDP riding association.
He has also been endorsed by former federal Green Party candidate Candice Christmas.
Nimelman says city politics require cooperation, regardless of your political stripe.
“My values are my values, they occur to strongly align with the NDP,” he says.
“But pragmatism is essential in municipal government.”
Party politics have been involved municipally for quite a while, to the dismay of some preferring a more ‘pure’ structure.
So plainly, even on the local level, there is no such thing as a escaping the party system.
