The last meeting of the current city council on Oct. 19 was tinged with irony.
After years of shooting down Coun. Brian Swanson’s ideas, after years of 6-1 votes against his motions, every single member of council praised him for his 24 years of service on council.
Were they finally acting with civility? Or were they acting out of relief because the buzz saw was leaving? Or were they playing politics, hoping to attract his supporters? Or were they just hypocrites?
Mayor Fraser Tolmie read a scripture verse in honour of Swanson, a verse he said was meant for friends, but was suitable in this instance.
Several councillors mentioned the “history lessons” Swanson gave council about how things got to the present state of affairs, perhaps insinuating that history is boring.
Swanson was surprised at the tribute, expressing that he now knows what it’s like to be buried, to finally have someone say nice things about you.
Swanson has shown good, bad and ugly sides since entering municipal politics in the late 1980s with opposition to the development of a casino in downtown Moose Jaw.
Confusing disagreement with his policies with dislike of him, he sometimes reacted harshly, like the time he called a woman a she-dog term, or one time he was in the city hall elevator with his daughters.
I stepped on, commented on his cute kids and was met with a barrage of nearly unintelligible rants about something I had written.
He consistently opposed or questioned major projects — the library/art museum, Mosaic Place, YaraCentre, indoor swimming pool, leading to the need for plebiscites that confirmed public support.
In his regular questioning of new projects, Swanson tapped into an undercurrent of resistance to change and distrust of developers among the Moose Jaw public.
I recall a late 1990s conversation with James Leier, then involved in pursuing economic development for Moose Jaw. Leier had had several negative calls about development. One summed up an attitude: “Development is okay but we don’t want too much of it.”
That’s the undercurrent Swanson tapped.
Swanson represented those taxpayers who wanted minimal property taxes, as well as family interests in real estate.
His biggest attraction for some voters was his role as a disruptor, the councillor who did his research and exposed what he saw as wrong and inconsistent.
He did his research like a lawyer, marshalling the facts in favour of his case, often omitting those in his disfavour.
His trust in administration was lacking. As he said in private recently, and I paraphrase: "When you hire these managers they promise to do all sorts of things then they do what they feel like.”
In his last term on council Swanson fell into the trap of trying to help an employee accused of sexual harassment rather than throw him under the bus and was punished for it by council.
That may have helped him decide to retire from council. Whatever his reasons for leaving, his colourful service will be missed.
Hopefully one of the new councillors will take on the role of exposing council and administration foibles that are hidden in closed meetings.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
