Three candidates in Haldimand have teamed up to bring block voting to the county.
Merlyn Kinrade of Caledonia, Gary McHale of Caledonia, and Doug Fleming of York are running for councillor positions in wards 2 (Cayuga), 3 (Caledonia) and 4 (Hagersville) respectively.
The three are campaigning on a common platform and are advertising themselves as a package deal. If elected, the trio will control half the councillor votes around the council table.
McHale is well known as an outspoken critic of the McGuinty government's handling of the native land claims dispute in Caledonia. The occupation of the former Douglas Creek Estates subdivision began nearly five years ago and remains a sore spot with residents of Caledonia and surrounding area. The problems Haldimand has encountered since the occupation began are the focal point of the block's campaign.
"In Toronto, it is not uncommon for candidates to co-operate in local elections," McHale said recently. "It's not uncommon for candidates to have common platforms."
McHale added the strategy is effective because there is strength in numbers. It is difficult, he said, for a single politician to change an administration that has serious systemic problems.
"One councillor can't do a lot," he said. "One candidate can make a lot of noise, but you can't really effect change. You're not going to get change when you continue to elect the same people. The people know who we are and what we stand for."
There have been no serious confrontations in Caledonia for some months now, at least not ones requiring police intervention.
The situation, however, remains tense. After the Ontario government purchased the disputed subdivision several years ago, Premier Dalton McGuinty promised Caledonia that native activists would only maintain a nominal occupation of one or two individuals.
This has not come to pass. Instead, activists have rolled two large trailers onto the property in which some are living. Recently, tensions rose when a third trailer was brought to the site. Following an outcry, provincial negotiators convinced the natives to remove one of the units.
Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer says the occupation continues to be a day-to-day factor in the life of the town. Some native customers, she said, subject merchants to abusive remarks. Trainer says this is unfair.
"The people of Haldimand can not solve these native land claims issues," she said. "We rely on the people of Six Nations and the Mississaugas of New Credit to bring us their business. It makes it hard when people bring up issues we have no control over."
Top of the agenda for Kinrade, McHale and Fleming is equal enforcement of the law as it relates to native land disputes. If elected, the three pledge to work toward a new policing service in Haldimand if the Ontario Provincial Police will not commit in writing to enforcing the law equally for everyone.
The three also support suing the Ontario government for $150 million for the damage, lost development and lost property taxes Haldimand has incurred since the native occupation in Caledonia began. A quarter of this would be used to establish a new police service if necessary.
The trio is also advising a go-slow approach to the wide-scale establishment of wind turbines and solar farms in the municipality. They worry that so-called green technologies have serious health and environmental issues that haven't been sufficiently examined.
Kinrade said Haldimand will continue to suffer if voters opt for the status quo on Oct. 25.
"This council says it has done its best," he said. "But they have not done their best in my opinion. They haven't done much of anything."