Niagara Regional Council Gives a Motion for an Israel-Hamas Ceasefire a Very Quick, Unceremonious Thumbs Down

By Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper

Posted January 28^th, 2024 on Niagara At Large

A motion drafted by St. Catharines Regional Councillor Haley Bateman, asking her colleagues on Niagara Region’s council to support a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War and to call upon Canada’s federal government to allow more entry of Palestinians fleeing harm’s way in the Gaza Strip, received a quick burial at the Region’s January 25^th council meeting.

Only minutes into the January 25^th meeting, Bateman’s fellow St. Catharines Regional Councillor and Mayor of St. Catharines Mat Siscoe immedialy declared that what Bateman’s motion was asking for falls outside any business the Regional Council should be dealing with and that it might also cause more divisiveness in the Niagara community over the whole Israel-Hamas affair.

Siscoe put a motion of his own on the table that Bateman’s not be considered which was seconded by another St. Catharines Regional Councillor Laura Ip.

Ip then received council approval to “call the question” which effectively cut off any opportunity for Bateman and for about 18 Niagara citizens who had filed as delegations to speak to the Council about her motion to speak.

Siscoe’s motion was approved by the Council by a sweeping vote of 26 to two, with Bateman and Niagara-on-the-Lake Regional Councillor Andrea Kaiser standing alone in voting “no” or as a visibly frustrated Haley Batman put it; “absolutely not”

At that point Niagara Regional Chair, acting according to the “procedural rules” for council meetings, informed the 18 individuals waiting in a packed gallery to speak that the outcome of the vote, including Ip’s request to call the question, meant there would be no delegations presenting their views at the council meeting on Bateman’s motion.

That news triggered an immediate eruption of protest from those in the gallery with chants from many of “ceasefire now” and “shame, shame, shame.”

Bradley, who had exercised his right as Chair not to vote for or against a motion unless it is necessary to break a tie, called for members of the gallery to show order and engaged in what he, unlike his predecessor in the Chair’s job had a habit of doing – banging the gavel. All that before he finally called a recess that lasted long enough to settle things. Down.

According to a report in The St. Cathainres Standard on this council meeting, at least a few members of the Council admonished Bateman after the recess was called to “grow up” and accused her of playing a role ‘orchestrating’ the outcry what unfolded from the gallery.

To add a brief editorial note here, one might be left wondering what asking Bateman, a relatively young first-term member of the Region’s Council who has a record of voicing progressive views on issues, to “grow up” means.

Hopefully it doesn’t mean that Haley Bateman  should try to make like too many other politicians and bow  down to business as usual and accept the status quo.

Given so many of the pressing issues we face today – a climate emergency, the lack of affordable and two budgets in a row from this Regional council that leave home and business owners across Niagara facing unprecedented tax hikes, just to name a few – the old way of doing business at the municipal, provincial and federal levels of government doesn’t seem to be working very well.

Finally, and at the risk of upsetting people on all sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict, while the negative reaction from the gallery to Siscoe and Ip voting down Bateman’s motion and blocking debate is understandable, so too is Siscoe’s assertion that his is an issue that can be very divisive.

As publisher of Niagara At Large, I have sometimes been asked over the past number of years why I won’t post commentary for one side or another on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian mess.

My answer is this.

The day I see critical masses of people on all sides of this mess holding hands together in a call for peace for all and in condemnation of both the murderous Hamas and its enablers and of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his enablers, I will.

There will never be a lasting resolution to this bloody mess if both sides don’t get rid of their current leaders. 

So until then, I will continue to do what I have done since the beginning of this war close to four months ago.

I will continue speaking out for an end to war and for a chance for a peaceful life for everyone.

• Doug Draper, Niagara At Large  

To read a related Niagara At Large post on this issue, click on – https://niagaraatlarge.com/2024/01/24/a-motion-for-israeli-hamas-ceasefire-is-sure-to-trigger-some-heated-discussion-at-niagara-regional-council-meeting/

To watch a CHCH TV news report on the burial of Bateman’s ceasefire motion, click on the screen below –

NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.

“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders