Midland Mayor Bill Gordon was caught in a war of words on social media recently, exchanging comments with a resident which escalated into the removal of comments and the larger question of the mayor’s projected image as an ‘accessible’ politician in the face of criticism.
The height of the exchange took place on Nov. 24 within Gordon’s mayoral page on Facebook (post since removed), where he provided suggestions to Midland residents on how they could become part of the solution to homelessness and lack of rental housing in the community by becoming a landlord through development of a secondary suite and accessory dwelling unit.
A MidlandToday article, ‘Midland mayor offers housing solution to deal with rental crisis’ from Nov. 26, further detailed Gordon’s suggestion. Gordon told MidlandToday that with the article published, he removed his Facebook post and explained further that comments on his Facebook post had devolved which contributed to the decision.
On Nov. 27, resident Margaret Hamelin emailed MidlandToday to say: “In short, on mayor Gordon’s (Facebook) page. He said some very harsh things about me then blocked me. They were embellished from factual information. Way too much to type. He blocked me after he made the statement. I feel the media is the only way I can now reply to his statement.”
However, on the evening of Nov. 26, that resident posted a 1,400-word reply to his statement on her own publicly-available Facebook page, linking other Midland council members to the comments.
As a result of being requested to expose this to the media, MidlandToday posed questions to Hamelin: what were the “very harsh things” said prior to blocking; what was the “factual information” along with proof, and how had Gordon “embellished” the items.
As well, MidlandToday asked if Hamelin had escalated the conversation by provoking Gordon or if Gordon had blocked unprovoked; questions if politicians should receive criticism and then respond in equal measure; and if Hamelin would resume that level of criticism if unblocked in the future.
Hamelin, however, responded with, “I think I’ll pass,” and declined to comment.
Gordon was asked numerous questions on his presented face as an accessible politician; he hosts his mayoral profile on Facebook to address town matters and engage with the public, while he maintains a personal Bill Gordon profile like many others on the platform.
At the top of his mayoral page, he wrote: ‘Participation on my page is conditional on conduct. Respectful communications will be enforced. I reserve the right to moderate comments and block offenders.’
“I go to great lengths to moderate comments that could be seen to conflict with the Ontario Human Rights Code and our Code of Conduct,” replied Gordon. “Our integrity commissioner has been very clear about the responsibility to moderate and be held accountable for content posted by and hosted on our social media and other platforms.”
MidlandToday attempted to contact the town’s integrity commissioner with questions regarding accessibility, but no response was received prior to publication of this article.
Gordon explained that a hot topic which garners attention and commentary can devolve into “an echo chamber of negativity” as people attack one-another for differing opinions.
“When that happens, I will disable the commenting but leave the comments up to that point online. This is the ‘pull back’,” he noted, explaining that he could be contacted in other ways on a matter, including his personal website.
Blocking a profile “is at my sole discretion,” Gordon said, “when the profile is abusive, harassing or otherwise offensive. It is tantamount to me turning and walking away from a person.” He added that unblocking can occur if remedial efforts are made.
In reference to Hamelin, Gordon stated she was “often very confrontational and argumentative online…(and had) written very disrespectful communications to council, some with profanity and personal insults directed at both me and other councillors.”
He also claimed that their 1,400-word retort was “full of false statements, embellishments and other baseless personal grievances,” but added he wouldn’t comment further on that.
On the afternoon of Nov. 29, Gordon contacted MidlandToday to state he was meeting with Hamelin to speak in person about matters of homelessness solutions as well as accessibility, with the intent to reconcile.
A social media post from the official mayoral account shortly after had Gordon stating: “Sometimes we can disagree on how to get to the destination but can still agree on the destination! A better Midland! Thanks for caring so much and sharing your critique and suggestions. I’m always open to both.”
A photo of Gordon and Hamelin, both smiling, with arms around each other's shoulders accompanied the comment, with Hamelin holding two fingers up in a gesture of peace.
