If Mayor Lou Maieron was looking for a glowing endorsement of his May trip to China from Erin councillors, chances are he was disappointed with the reaction to his presentation last week.
On Nov. 19 Maieron appeared before council as a delegation to recount his 10-day trip earlier this year, which previously has come under some scrutiny from some taxpayers and county councillors.
Maieron made a 35-minute presentation, including both a verbal description and a slide show of the trip, which was sponsored by the China Canada Investment Association.
“The biggest thing in China that you can’t really get your head over until you’re there is the population of 1.3 billion people,” said Maieron.
“It sounds sort of big. But when you are travelling from one city to the next … it adds up and it’s a huge market.”
Maieron said those on the trip developed a new understanding of China, which he explained is Ontario’s second largest trading partner next to the U.S.
“I did not see any poverty there,” he said. “It is a well developed country and construction is booming.”
Maieron, who noted most of the mayors on the trip were from rural areas, said the Town of Erin had equipped him with bags and economic development brochures, and Wellington County provided him with maple syrup, honey and books from the county.
Part of the cultural experience in China is offering a gift when meeting someone, he explained.
“We travelled nine cities in nine days,” Maieron said.
He later added, “I call China the land of adapt or die,” offering the example of learning to use chopsticks.
“It’s an interesting country … everybody works, everybody eats and there is no property tax … and only about 20% of the people pay income tax,” Maieron said.
Part of the trip included taking part in various economic trade conferences, the mayor told council.
“It was a unique opportunity meeting with mayors, governors, provincial premiers.”
Maieron said it was confirmed that the Chinese government paid for travel, meals and accommodation.
“But at every stop along the way, we met with governors of various provinces.”
At each stop, the Canadian mayors were provided a brief opportunity to speak about their local areas. Maieron agreed there were a number of language barriers, but some common interests seemed to be agricultural and energy.
He said that two years ago the Chinese purchased 35 wineries in the Niagara Region, and this year, they are starting to buy up dairy farms. He added it seems that local dairy farmers have problems selling off excess milk production.
However, the Chinese have purchased farms, not quotas, allowing farmers to continue selling the quota of milk – but the excess would end up being sent to a factory in Scarborough, processed, then shipped to China.
“We exposed Erin and Wellington County to nine cities,” Maieron said, noting there is an opportunity to export to China.
He said while he is “not a big fan of the Chinese coming in and buying up our businesses, they do want to invest in this country.”
Maieron said he was working on arranging a local tour for Chinese representatives within Erin, Wellington County and at the University of Guelph to promote agricultural opportunities.
He added he has already taken the president of the Bank of China on a tour of the area.
Maieron added that “as the mayor, the Municipal Act does bestow on me the ability to promote the municipality locally, nationally and internationally.”
The mayor said delegates “hoped to create some opportunities … and it’s a big market.” He added, “Us mayors are pretty much alpha males, with one alpha female mayor with us, and we had to get along for 10 days.”
The mayor said he was trying to do something good; to bring economic development back to Erin and Wellington County.
While there was applause at the end of his presentation, the questions raised by fellow Erin councillors did not seem to be what the mayor was hoping for.
Councillor John Brennan said it was a nice presentation, but he was more concerned with the economic development brochure that was distributed by Maieron in China, which Brennan said he never saw prior to the trip.
Maieron, who said the trip happened during the transition between the former CAO Frank Miele and the current administration, noted he had no input on the brochures.
Maieron said Brennan was listed as one of the economic development contacts. Brennan agreed his name and contact information was there.
“Frankly I’m amazed I didn’t get any calls,” said Brennan. “I look in here and find I can buy Steen’s Dairy for $319, or the Bistro Riviere for $699.”
Brennan asked, “How did this come together and why haven’t we seen it (before)?”
Maieron said, “Miele was in the process of putting the economic development package [together] when you let him go.”
Brennan countered, “This looks like it was done at the last minute.”
As the mayor asked about the specific day the former CAO left the municipality, councillor Barb Tocher interjected, raising a point of order.
“We’ve had this discussion before and you’re revealing information which was held in closed session,” said Tocher.
Brennan said the public has asked questions, “And they were frankly disappointed – not that you went, but we missed a fabulous opportunity.”
Brennan pointed out there are people in Erin who do business in China.
“We could have reached out to them for pointers for things to ask or information to relate. It would have made the trip more productive,” said Brennan.
“Quite frankly to take a sheet of real estate listings, that is not much of an economic development brochure. We could have done something really good with this, and I’m disappointed that we didn’t.”
Brennan added he was disappointed the mayor did not take the opportunity to reach out to the public … “you didn’t even tell us until the week before you were going.”
Maieron said he really didn’t decide he was going until May 1, but Brennan countered, “I’m sorry, but on April 2, there was a press conference in Toronto announcing it.”
Maieron said he was not at the press conference.
CAO Frank Miele was at the event as the mayor’s representative.
“That’s what the China Canada Investment Association said,” Brennan noted.
Maieron agreed that is what the association said, but he added, “I did not decide until May 1. There were reasons I did that. I did not want the whole world to know I was heading to the other side of the world.”
Maieron also did not believe the opportunity was wasted.
“Yes, our economic development brochure was perhaps not the best.” However, he contended there was no economic development committee at that time to put anything together.
“Most of the small town mayors did their best to promote their municipalities. I’m not going to take credit or blame for that brochure.”
Brennan said, “I’m just surprised that if Frank was working on this (council) knew nothing about it.”
Maieron then tried a different tact. “When you get an invitation to go to something where they say if you pay the airfare we’ll look after the rest … to some degree for a small town mayor like me … it sounded too good to be true.”
That required time to determine if the invitation was legitimate or not.
“You don’t want to find yourself on the other side of the world, and find out you are stuck there,” Maieron said. He added that even if it appeared last minute, “I think I represented the town and the county well.”
He maintained there was good cooperation between the municipality, the county and the provincial government to promote the trip.
Brennan noted the April 2 press conference coincided with a council date.
“If you had simply said to us, “I have an opportunity to do this …” Brennan said.
Maieron again stated he was not at the press conference. “It’s not my picture in the photo. I sent Frank Miele to check it out.”
“It is not what the press release says,” Brennan countered.
He then suggested that Maieron might want to speak with someone from the China Canada Investment Association because that is how it reads on the organization’s website.
“It says Lou Maieron is thinking of going,” the mayor said.
Brennan replied, “(The website) says … we are pleased to be joined by the following mayors … and your name is there.”
Maieron then asked if Brennan wished to see when the cheque for the airfare was written.
“All I am saying is that had you said something to us in April, you would have avoided a lot of controversy,” said Brennan. “Instead you dump it on people at the last minute … and then after the fact start asking to be compensated by the county and the town.”
Maieron said he made the compensation request to the county prior to going to China and asked if the conference policy would allow this.
Maieron said staff was consistent in that assessment, “But a couple of councillors decided to make a stink about it and the warden decided that in the interest of open, transparent and accountable government, we would discuss it at county council.”
Maieron then added county council approved the expenses in a 10-3 vote.
“Before I even contemplated going, I had a sit down with Wellington County CAO Scott Wilson and Warden Chris White,” he said.
Maieron maintained that staff was resolute that the conference policy allowed for the request to be paid.
“Three councillors chose to make an issue of it.”
Discussion regarding the mayor’s request to the Town of Erin for a per diem payment was deferred as part of the council package unfinished that night and due for discussion on Nov. 26.
However the mayor was not in attendance on that date so council deferred the per diem item to a future council session.
