City councillors are reacting with a mix of criticism and support after news surfaced this week that the mayor had sharply criticized the prime minister in a letter sent just after the May federal election.
Mayor Nolan Crouse criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for engaging in negative campaigning during the federal election last spring. The letter, dated May 6, concludes by inviting Harper to visit St. Albert to help celebrate the city's 150th anniversary. The blended messaging didn't work for Coun. Cathy Heron.
"I don't know if it was written quickly or what but it sounded really stupid to criticize him in one sentence and then invite him to visit in the next," Heron said.
"He's never going to take up that invite after what he'd just read, but I also don't think there was much hope of getting him here with this late notice."
In the letter, Crouse targets the attack ads employed during the campaign and "the ongoing banter about the incompetence of others in various parties." He described these tactics as "a despicable display of bullying, condescending comments and inappropriate displays of human behaviour."
Official letterhead
The letter was written on official city letterhead and Crouse signed it as the mayor of the City of St. Albert. The letter's content wasn't discussed with council prior to it being sent.
Crouse sends so many letters that it would be unreasonable to expect council to vet every one, Heron said, but this is one that she'd have liked to have seen beforehand.
"It could have been written personally from the mayor but not maybe from the City of St. Albert," she suggested.
"I agreed with what he said but he was a little harsh," she continued. "When you're dealing with the federal government, you need to keep them on your good side."
She noted that, in the days since the letter has become news, she's seen several emails supporting the mayor. Coun. Roger Lemieux said the same thing.
"I got three or four emails today from people saying, 'Way to go Mr. Mayor. Stand up for what's right in this country,'" Lemieux said.
He aimed his criticism at the person who anonymously leaked the letter to the Gazette.
"For somebody to show you guys the letter and try to create some crapola is beyond me. I think it's disgusting," Lemieux said. "I think it was really, really minor league to do that."
Lemieux also said that freedom of speech is a fundamental right in this country.
"Why should Mayor Crouse be any exception?" he said.
When asked about the letter, Crouse said he wanted to congratulate the prime minister but also felt it was important to balance his comments.
"I was trying to balance some feedback, which is what I heard throughout the campaign about the negative campaigning," Crouse said.
He said he believes all the federal leaders crossed the line during the last campaign, creating an atmosphere that is bad for good discourse.
"If you have it at the federal level and it works, it will happen at the provincial level, it will happen across Canada and it will happen at the municipal level," he said. "You basically show children and society a particular style that causes you to win."
Anniversary invite
Rendezvous 2011 organizers sent a letter of invitation to the prime minister sometime after Crouse sent his letter, said board chair Margaret Plain. In a letter dated July 15, the prime minister's office declined that invitation, citing scheduling concerns.
Plain said she had no way of knowing whether Crouse's letter affected the committee's chances of luring Harper to town. She had little to say about the mayor's letter.
"I'm not going to have an opinion on that," she said. "The mayor does what the mayor does."
Coun. Wes Brodhead said he didn't have a problem with the mayor sharing his views about the federal campaign.
"I tend to agree with him on that," he said. "We don't need to have that political atmosphere here. We in Canada can find a higher way."
Coun. Malcolm Parker didn't think there was any harm in what Crouse wrote.
"It's one of those things that everybody reacts to but it will disappear in a hurry and it won't be a big deal," he said.
Coun. Len Bracko had no issue with Crouse writing the letter or the tone of it.
"I think the prime minister needs to get a strongly worded message," he said. "People want leadership. They don't want people putting people down."
Earlier this week, Coun. Cam MacKay said the mayor's message, while well intentioned, may have been better left unsaid.
View the letter here.
