Tank: Challengers line up to replace veteran Hill on Saskatoon council

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You knew challengers would target veteran Saskatoon Coun. Darren Hill after he squeaked by in the 2020 civic election, winning by just 56 votes.

So far, four candidates have entered the race to represent Ward 1, and Hill appears to have made no public statements yet about his intention to seek re-election.

But should he seek another term in office for the ward he has represented since 2006, he should welcome all the competition. A fragmented vote improves his chances, as it did in 2020.

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If Hill wins in November’s election and serves out a sixth term, he would become one of the longest-serving councillors in Saskatoon history at 22 straight years.

He eked out a victory four years ago with slightly more than a third of the vote, even though he spent $15,000 on his campaign, nearly as much as his three opponents combined. Hill personally contributed nearly $4,600 to his own campaign.

Kevin Boychuk spent nearly $8,000, almost all of it his own money, and nearly toppled the veteran councillor. In 2021, Boychuk ran unsuccessfully in a federal Saskatoon riding for the right-wing fringe People’s Party of Canada.

Since 2020, Hill has navigated a rocky road.

He faced disqualification for failing to file his campaign finance disclosure on time.

Then council voted unanimously in 2021 to rescind his nomination to represent the city as president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities after his disclosure of mental health issues.

And Hill was found to be in violation of council’s code of conduct on three separate matters, including breaching confidentiality and causing $10,000 damage to a meeting space at city hall.

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Despite this baggage, Hill, who attended Gord Wyant’s mayoral campaign launch in June, could well win in November if the vote splits the right way.

Trent Lalonde has been campaigning for months to replace him. Lalonde has blocked me on Twitter, so I can no longer read his enlightening posts, like his assertion that iconic Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas was really a Nazi sympathizer.

Presumably, transparency will not feature prominently in Lalonde’s campaign. He does not appear to have created a campaign website.

But Lalonde also posts as Trent the Trucker, a blog inspired by the Freedom Convoy opposed to pandemic restrictions, on the right-wing website Small Dead Animals. Here, he writes about topics like “Canada’s Bolsheviks.” Lalonde also donated $1,400 to the Saskatchewan Party from 2016 to 2022.

Back on planet Earth, three other candidates have declared their intention to run against Hill in a diverse ward that includes City Park, Forest Grove, Hudson Bay Park, Kelsey-Woodlawn, Mayfair, North Park, Richmond Heights and Sutherland.

Kathryn MacDonald co-owns a cheese shop in the Caswell Hill neighbourhood (just south of Mayfair) and serves on the board of directors for the 33rd Street Business Improvement District.

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MacDonald’s campaign website describes her as a “champion of collaboration and inclusivity” with her top priorities as affordability, safety and economic growth.

Electrical contractor Russell Nadin is also running in Ward 1. Nadin’s campaign website says council must address homelessness, transit, road maintenance, violent crime and Indigenous reconciliation. He stresses that all this must be achieved within budget and through consultation.

Dallas Burnett, whose campaign website features a photo of him in shorts and flip-flops, says he wants to be a “positive leader” for Saskatoon. His priorities include homelessness, public safety, road maintenance and snow/ice management, strengthening downtown, “appropriate” taxation and engagement.

Burnett’s website does not list an occupation, but his LinkedIn profile says he works seasonally as the assistant general manager of the Sutherland Curling Club.

If Hill decides to run, one of these challengers needs to significantly outperform the others to beat him.

He helped lead opposition to a proposed homeless shelter in a former fire hall in Sutherland, which city council ultimately rejected in February. Voters in that neighbourhood may remember that better than they do his controversies. Hill has said he has put his mental health troubles behind him.

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Incumbency usually represents an insurmountable advantage for city council candidates, but Hill may well have entered the phase where it instead works against him.

Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

ptank@postmedia.com

twitter.com/thinktankSK

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