‘Man up and quit campaign,’ McFadden tells rival
(Left) Mississauga Ward 10 incumbent Sue McFadden listens at a meeting earlier this year. (Right) Ward 10 candiate Mazin Al-Ezzi speaks to a family on Topeka Drive during an incident that was caught on video this past weekend. (Submitted Photos)
Mississauga Councillor Sue McFadden is calling on a rival candidate to drop out of the municipal election race in Ward 10 after a heated confrontation between Mazin Al-Ezzi and a resident Sunday.
“I would hope he’d be man enough to say ‘I’m embarrassed, I’ve done something wrong, I withdraw,' but he won’t.
He’ll come out with three guns a-blazing now,” McFadden said.
This follows a heated altercation between Al-Ezzi and residents in a home on Topeka Drive captured on video and posted on Youtube where thousands have viewed it.
The heated argument over a damaged election sign led to jostling and scuffling at the door of the resident. There was also a verbal threat in which Al-Ezzi can be heard vowing to gouge out a man’s eyes if his election sign was stepped on again.
“Next time, if I see your foot (on my election sign), it will be something else.
Even if you record it, I put both my fingers in your eyes,” he said.
Police have been made aware of the video and say they’ll look at any complaint about the matter if one comes forward.
McFadden says she’s spoken with family members involved in the altercation and says they have never been subjected to such treatment in their lives.
“If that’s what it’s coming to, that we have to intimidate and be forceful. I run a campaign that’s based on trust and loyalty and integrity and I have this as my opponent? How do I compete against that? I just don’t.”
She wants Al Ezzi to withdraw for his own sake and that of residents in Ward 10.
“It’s an embarrassment.
Save face. I would call on him to withdraw. My job is to protect my residents, the democratic process and what we stand for as our council. I don’t want someone like that on our council. I don’t want a man like that who brings that kind of politics into
our city. No way,” she said.
Al Ezzi issued an apology on his Facebook page to all those who were upset by what they saw in the video. “I do apologize to everybody who thought I’m a bad person. I’m against violence.”
He pushed back against suggestions he should drop out of the election race over the matter.
“I’m moving forward. I have had lots of calls of support from people who said, ‘Mazin, we know who you are and we believe in you.” He rejects McFadden’s calls for him to withdraw from the municipal campaign as self-serving.
“It’s based on selfishness,” he said. “She’s judging me and she’s never seen me person-to-person.”
Al Ezzi says he has a lot of support in his community because he says Mc- Fadden has done nothing for voters.
"Show me something she did for us. The other candidate never fight for our area. That’s why people are electing me. We need to help people living in my area, not just go to parties and take pictures,” he said.
When asked about the obscenities uttered in the video, including the word ‘motherf----r’, Al Ezzi says every time he tried to walk away from the situation, someone enflamed matters by saying something to goad him into further confrontation.
“They pushed me. It was their intention. You see me four times trying to leave and they say something bad behind my back,” Al Ezzi told Peel Weekly News.
He claims the whole thing began over the mistreatment of his signs. But McFadden says it was her signs that were removed, not her opponent's.
She says he’s making up excuses for his behaviour.
Despite her concerns about Al Ezzi, McFadden says she would debate him if asked, though she believes he has little understanding of the issues in Ward 10 and finds his behaviour “scary.”
The election will be held on Oct. 22.
Mississauga Councillor Sue McFadden is calling on a rival candidate to drop out of the municipal election race in Ward 10 after a heated confrontation between Mazin Al-Ezzi and a resident Sunday.
“I would hope he’d be man enough to say ‘I’m embarrassed, I’ve done something wrong, I withdraw,' but he won’t.
He’ll come out with three guns a-blazing now,” McFadden said.
This follows a heated altercation between Al-Ezzi and residents in a home on Topeka Drive captured on video and posted on Youtube where thousands have viewed it.
The heated argument over a damaged election sign led to jostling and scuffling at the door of the resident. There was also a verbal threat in which Al-Ezzi can be heard vowing to gouge out a man’s eyes if his election sign was stepped on again.
“Next time, if I see your foot (on my election sign), it will be something else.
Even if you record it, I put both my fingers in your eyes,” he said.
Police have been made aware of the video and say they’ll look at any complaint about the matter if one comes forward.
McFadden says she’s spoken with family members involved in the altercation and says they have never been subjected to such treatment in their lives.
“If that’s what it’s coming to, that we have to intimidate and be forceful. I run a campaign that’s based on trust and loyalty and integrity and I have this as my opponent? How do I compete against that? I just don’t.”
She wants Al Ezzi to withdraw for his own sake and that of residents in Ward 10.
“It’s an embarrassment.
Save face. I would call on him to withdraw. My job is to protect my residents, the democratic process and what we stand for as our council. I don’t want someone like that on our council. I don’t want a man like that who brings that kind of politics into
our city. No way,” she said.
Al Ezzi issued an apology on his Facebook page to all those who were upset by what they saw in the video. “I do apologize to everybody who thought I’m a bad person. I’m against violence.”
He pushed back against suggestions he should drop out of the election race over the matter.
“I’m moving forward. I have had lots of calls of support from people who said, ‘Mazin, we know who you are and we believe in you.” He rejects McFadden’s calls for him to withdraw from the municipal campaign as self-serving.
“It’s based on selfishness,” he said. “She’s judging me and she’s never seen me person-to-person.”
Al Ezzi says he has a lot of support in his community because he says Mc- Fadden has done nothing for voters.
"Show me something she did for us. The other candidate never fight for our area. That’s why people are electing me. We need to help people living in my area, not just go to parties and take pictures,” he said.
When asked about the obscenities uttered in the video, including the word ‘motherf----r’, Al Ezzi says every time he tried to walk away from the situation, someone enflamed matters by saying something to goad him into further confrontation.
“They pushed me. It was their intention. You see me four times trying to leave and they say something bad behind my back,” Al Ezzi told Peel Weekly News.
He claims the whole thing began over the mistreatment of his signs. But McFadden says it was her signs that were removed, not her opponent's.
She says he’s making up excuses for his behaviour.
Despite her concerns about Al Ezzi, McFadden says she would debate him if asked, though she believes he has little understanding of the issues in Ward 10 and finds his behaviour “scary.”
The election will be held on Oct. 22.