Jim Diodati announces his fourth run to stay as Niagara Falls Mayor

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati announced this morning on Hamilton TV that he would be running for a fourth term to lead Canada’s biggest tourist destination.

Diodati said he had no plans of running again but felt as the guy in charge that he had missed most of this last term for two reasons – a bout with cancer which marked the end of his third term followed by the two years of pandemic that ground his city to a halt.

“Originally, I was not intending to have another run but this last term was unlike any I have experienced. I felt like I lost three of the four years – one year to cancer, two years to COVID,” he said.

Diodati was diagnosed with classical Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in July 2018, three months prior to the last municipal election.

He was released after a month in the hospital but had to avoid the public due to his compromised immune system. He continued with chemotherapy until December 2018 and in the meantime, became Mayor again in October after running unopposed.

Diodai said he felt like he had to run this to help finish off the many major project that are still unfinished in his city.

“Things like the hospital, the expansion of the GO train, building a hospice in Niagara Falls and a number of other things. We got near the finish line but we didn’t get across the finish line.”

He was asked about his controversial endorsement of Premier Doug Ford in the recent Provincial election, a move that very few Ontario mayors made this month. (Diodati had previously endorsed a fellow Niagara Falls councillor as the Liberal candidate in the 2018 provincial election.)

“The fact is this,” said Diodati. “It’s a majority government, he’s in charge. I’ve got a great relationship with the Premier, as well as many of the of ministers and I’m going to need their assistance to get these major and large-ticket items across the finish line.”

He and his wife, Yvonne have three children, all teenaged and older.