By Pepper Parr
September 27th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
We missed this one.
Ward 2 Councillor Rory Nisan found himself in a seat at the United Nations in New York during the summer.
We didn’t hear anything at Council. We don’t get all that much from Nisan in terms of newsletters. We are not on his list of people he keeps in touch with. It was quite a bit different when he was running for office. We worked with him to develop a few opinion pieces as he was creating a personal profile. Acouple of lunches and some conversations related to which ward he would run in.
A sharp eyed Gazette reader alerted us to news he posted on his Linked In page.
His report on the trip to New York – all on the public dime:
After spending an engaging week at the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York representing the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), I wanted to share some of my key takeaways from what was a vitally important event.
Name plate at United Nations says Burlington – sitting there was our very own Deputy Mayor Rory Nisan.
Local and regional governments play a critical role in advancing Canada’s global development goals, particularly around climate, adequate housing and the myriad of solutions to sustainable cities and communities. As a member of the FCM Executive Committee and Deputy Mayor for the city of Burlington, Ontario, I know first-hand that no single order of government can tackle these issues alone.
I was therefore very pleased to work with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to present Canada’s update to the United Nations on our Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities. ESDC recognizes the importance of collaboration across all orders of government and the partnership between FCM and ESDC to deliver this update exemplifies the value of cross-government collaboration.
At the UN, I participated in the Local and Regional Governments Forum organized by the UCLG’s Global Task Force of Local and Regional Governments and had the chance to talk about housing and equitable cities with my federal counterparts from Chile and Botswana. I detailed the innovative work that Canadian cities and communities are delivering on the ground.
We see a trend here. Nisan decided to move out of Ward 3 and into ward 2. After talking the move through with a number of ward 3 residents we came to the conclusion that Nisan will probably not run for a council seat – we suspected he might be angling for something to do with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
The trip to New York suggests we just might have been right.
Rory has always aspired to much more than a Council seat
“we suspected he might be angling for something to do with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.”
… You have to be an elected official from a municipality to be on the Board of FCM, which he already is, so that’s a rather silly nothing.
How dare Rory Nisan speak such tripe on our dime. We bet he also bragged about our slogan “where people thrive” but forgot to tell them about our record number of 90+ bacterial c-difficile outbreak deaths (mainly over 80) so that according to several Chief Coroners, including the present one, puts them in a class of natural deaths, yeah right!
Rory Nisan truthfully brags as well as we speak Chinese!
“At the UN, I ……. spoke with my federal counterparts from Chile and Botswana. and detailed the innovative work that Canadian cities and communities are delivering on the ground. ” Yeah right….. on the ground OK…… behind our bushes and hedgerows alongside the Coyotes or maybe food for them as those sleeping on their Burlington patios nearly became.
Get on your knees Rory at the closest Indigenous cenotaph to City Hall, for the whole day that City Hall closes for National Truth and Reconciliation Day and remember why the Indigenous people joined the world to fight for democracy, That would do your soul and Burlington’s international already plummeting reputation, far more good!