Mississauga News, August 7th, 2009

By: Joe Chin

An outraged Mississauga councillor all but chased a resident speaker away from Wednesday’s meeting of City Council.

Andrew Hamilton-Smith, a University of Toronto Mississauga student, who’s also secretary of the Mississauga South NDP association, had just finished urging City councillors to delay abolishing public question period when he was berated by Ward 7 councillor Nando Iannicca.

The outspoken councillor appeared upset the deputant’s party hasn’t pushed for instituting the practice at the provincial and federal levels where the NDP is represented. He called it hypocrisy.

“They don’t do it there, but they want to come here and tell us how to run the place. And of all people the NDP,” said Iannicca. “So why don’t you move along and get an education of how things actually work, for God’s sake.”

Iannicca, who was first elected to Council in 1988, told The News he doesn’t regret his outburst.

“Not at all, not at all,” he said. “(Hamilton-Smith) is not Joe Citizen; he was here on behalf of a political party.” Iannicca noted he was respectful to the other deputants who addressed Council on the issue.

The City of Mississauga wants to do away with a 30-year tradition of allowing anyone to essentially walk off the street and ask questions of City officials.

Instead, councillors want to bump it back to the committee level and impose strict time limits.

“The objective here should be to refine the quality of questions asked at Council, not eliminate them altogether,” argued Hamilton-Smith, who sits on the City’s cycling advisory committee.

He called on councillors to defer the move until the fall to allow time for public consultation. “The public should have a say in the elimination of public question period,” he said.

Longtime City observer Alan Forde, who also spoke on the issue, was surprised by the way Hamilton-Smith was treated. “There has to be some explanation as to the rough handling of a citizen, especially your age,” he told Hamilton-Smith in an e-mail.

He also asked: “You and Nando have a history?”