The power of a name: Family dynasties loom large in Ontario's municipal election campaigns

Martin Reid figures that he has been waiting for about 25 years to run for a seat on Mississauga City Council.

A lifelong resident of Meadowvale, Reid has long harboured ambitions of one day becoming the community’s voice on council.

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But for many years his path was effectively blocked by a popular incumbent who has represented Ward 9 for more than three decades. Reid, for what it’s worth, says that part of his reason for waiting this long was because he thought that councillor –Pat Saito - was doing a good job and “didn’t want to step on toes.”

But with Saito set to retire Reid is taking his shot.

He says that he reached out to Saito about two years ago and asked her to help him learn the job ahead of an eventual run.

He has accompanied Saito to road safety meetings, development committee meetings and town halls since then and says that he has done a “deep dive” on what it means to be a city councillor.

He has Saito’s endorsement as a result and would appear to have a leg up in a ward where 11 candidates are vying for the job.

There is just one problem.

Long-time mayor Hazel McCallion’s son Peter was a late entry into the race and when it comes to name recognition, at least, Reid has a lot to overcome.

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It’s an example of how hard it can be for new voices to get elected at the municipal level, where incumbents enjoy huge advantages that are sometimes even passed on to the next generation.

“I've lived here for over 45 years and I know Meadowvale people can sniff out when someone hasn't been invested in the community. So the name is recognized from a Mississauga and global perspective. But in terms of Meadowvale they know that the legacy is the work that Hazel and Pat did,” Reid told CP24.com this week while discussing McCallion’s entry into the race. “You know, it is a great opportunity. There is a vacancy after 31 years and I think everyone thinks it will be an easy ride if they can just leverage their name. But I think that the residents are smarter than that.”

Reid, who runs a health and wellness business, told CP24.com that he “heard rumblings” that McCallion would enter the race so wasn’t shocked when he signed up on the last day of the nomination period on Aug. 19.

McCallion didn’t respond to a request from CP24.com for an interview to discuss his campaign but did tell the Mississauga News that he has "grown up in politics" and wants to bring Mississauga council “back to civility.”

For his part Reid said that the challenge of running against a McCallion in a city where the legacy of “Hurricane Hazel” still looms large hasn’t changed his approach to the campaign.

It’s an approach, he said, that is built on emphasizing his deep roots in the community and speaking with residents directly about the issues – community safety is a big one at the doors, Reid says.

“When I talk with people they're excited to see me, they're excited to have a face-to-face conversation with a candidate and they're excited to see someone who was homegrown who went to the schools in this area, who's worked at the DAM (youth drop-in centre), who has worked with young people in this area,” he said. “So I feel confident that the more that I have face time with individuals the more likely they are to vote for someone who looks like them, lives like them, believes what they believe and knows what they know about Ward 9.”

FAMILY DYNASTIES ARE NOTHING NEW IN MUNICIPAL POLITICS

There can be a lot to overcome for first-time candidates at the municipal level, where without the backing on political parties, sheer name recognition can become even more important.

So-called family dynasties can further tilt the playing field.

In Toronto, Etobicoke North was represented by a member of the Ford family for 22 years prior to the resignation of Michael Ford this past spring.

To the east in Etobicoke Centre, Stephen Holyday is now running for a third-term in the ward previously represented by his father Doug for more than a dozen years.

And to the north in Humber River-Black Creek, TDSB Trustee Christopher Mammoliti is currently running to reclaim the ward that his dad Giorgio was defeated in four years ago.

“When a next generation family members runs for elected office their odds of winning an election are massively higher than the average other new candidate throwing their hat into the ring,” Myer Siemiatycki, professor emeritus at Toronto Metropolitan University, told CP24.com this week. “You know at the local level it is virtually impossible to be an informed voter. When you go to the ballot box you get handed a piece of paper with a bunch of names on them and it is impossible to know who all the candidates are and what they stand for. So a default becomes checking your ballot and voting for a name that is familiar and there is nothing more familiar than a family dynasty.”

Siemiatycki said it is important to remember that first-time candidates who benefit from a well known family name “aren’t necessarily unqualified, inept or incapable.”

In fact, he said that there have been a number of family dynasties in the GTA and elsewhere that have made “important contributions to municipal life.”

But he said that it does create an “uneven playing field,” especially at the municipal level “where there are no political parties to make your assessment by and only names that might as well have been plucked out of a telephone book.”

“It is kind of like the magic dust that can carry on from generation to generation,” he said.

A NEW MAMMOLITI IN HUMBER RIVER-BLACK CREEK?

Christopher Mammoliti is one candidate with a name that most Torontonians are probably familiar with.

His father Giorgio spent 20 years on Toronto City Council and gained a reputation for being an at-times flamboyant presence in chambers - he once ripped his shirt off to protest a planned nude beach at Hanlan’s point.

But the younger Mammoliti bristles at the suggestion that he is anything but his own candidate.

He said that he is proud of his record as a trustee at the Toronto District School Board and wants to run on that rather than being Giorgio’s son.

“I have got four years as school board trustee and served as vice chair of the board over the last two years through a global pandemic. We have lots of work we have done in the last four years we are proud of. To me that is where the focus should be. Look at my work, look at my history,” he said.

Mammoliti, who ran a manufacturing business prior to his time at the TDSB, does say that he learned some important lessons about municipal politics from this father.

He said that he was “at the doors from a very young age” and gained an appreciation for not just running a campaign but being available to the community once elected.

“I am running with a name that is very familiar so the work ethic is going to be there,” he said, noting that his upbringing in a political family combined with his own experience give him a “unique” understanding of the job. “I can tell you as a youth living with my father he was almost never home because he viewed it as he was married to the community. I have that same work ethic but of course I am a different generation. I come from a different perspective and a different lived experience.”

Ontarians head to the polls on Oct. 24.