Some Belleville councillors pushed back against comments made by a former Ontario MPP saying that “nothing gets done” at the annual meeting of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).
Former Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith was on the August 18th edition of The Lorne Brooker Show on 800 CJBQ and was asked during the Monday Morning Roundtable segment about his previous experiences at the meeting.
“So glad I don’t have to go to that anymore. I’m so glad I don’t have to go to AMO anymore,” Smith said on the program.
“The councillors and the mayors, they go to this thing and they make it seem like things are going to get done there. Nothing gets done at AMO. Zippo.”
During the announcements portion of Belleville City Council’s meeting on Monday, councillor Garnet Thompson said he was really upset to hear what the former MPP said.
“For years, that MPP encouraged us to go to Good Roads, AMO and ROMA. Now, all of a sudden, he’s not a MPP anymore… now it’s a bad idea. Why would he say one and not the other,” Thompson said.
“These conferences are of value. I’m disgusted that a past MPP, Todd Smith, would say that and give the people in our community the wrong idea why we go to these conferences. (We go) to learn. Now he’s saying it’s a waste of time. Well, maybe he should have said that when he was a MPP.”
Councillor Sean Kelly also spoke against the comments, saying he was disappointed.
“I recall like it was yesterday that Minister Smith encouraged us to set up meetings with Health Minister Sylvia Jones, Transportation Minister (Caroline) Mulroney, and he initiated and was at those meetings so troubling to hear that Minister Smith felt that they’re a waste of time.” Kelly told council.
Smith served as a MPP from 2011 until his resignation from cabinet in 2024 to work in the private sector as Vice-President of Marketing and Business Development for Candu Energy.
