2 sides of PC leadership candidate Mel Norton

From Day 1of his campaign for the Progressive Conservative leadership, Mel Norton has built his message around one argument: what he calls a record of success as the mayor of Saint John.

Norton frequently talks about how he brought city council together to tackle major problems facing the province's largest city during his four years in the top job.

The foundation of leadership is working together.- Mel Norton

"The biggest, single most important part of leadership is working together," Norton said on the day he kicked off his campaign.

"Everything rises and falls on leadership. The foundation of leadership is working together, then developing a common vision, then working together together to put that vision in place. Those are the same qualities whether it's a member of a municipal council or a premier's office."

Norton's supporters, such as Saint John Portland MLA Trevor Holder, frequently praise "his ability to unite people."

But some people who dealt with Norton as mayor say that's not the full story.

'He was abrasive, hostile'

Christopher Waldschutz, a former chair of the city's police commission, said when Norton promotes his ability to forge a consensus, "I wonder what he's thinking. That's not the Mel Norton I saw on the police commission."

As mayor, Norton sat on the commission.

"He was abrasive, hostile, my way or the highway, certainly not seeking accommodation with each other," Waldschutz said, recalling the mayor "screaming and yelling" in closed-door sessions.

That's not the Mel Norton I saw.- Chris Waldschutz, former police commission chair

Norton told CBC News that "I recall raising my voice and I never like to see that happen," but teamwork and consensus doesn't necessarily mean unanimous agreement.

"That requires sometimes some hard conversations that can ruffle feathers and bruise egos, but those are the kinds of tough things you have to do to move either a province or a community forward," he said.

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WaldschutzsaidNorton's temper usually appeared only behind closed doors.

Tongue-lashing for council

But the public got a glimpse of it in January 2015, when the mayor gave councillors a tongue-lashing.

Coun. Shirley McAlary had questioned his decision to accept a free flight on J.D. Irving Ltd's corporate plane to attend Premier Brian Gallant's State of the Province speech.

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Norton tried to compare taking the flight with some councillors' involvement with charitable causes that involve them selling fundraising tickets to Irving and other companies.

I felt like he threw us all under the bus.- Susan Fullerton, former councillor

"Will those councillors feel grateful to them, and is that councillor more likely to vote in a way that's favourable to them?" he asked at the time.

Then-councillor Susan Fullerton calls it "a sham of a meetingand as a councillor, I felt like he threw us all under the bus."

Fullerton said she also saw Norton lose his temper at times.

"When Mel wouldn't get his way, when council disappointed him, when the vote didn't go his way, he would become very, very irate, and he would yell and he would scream," she said.

Council support lost

Towardthe end of the four-year term, Norton lost some support on council.

Coun. Gerry Lowe said in the final year, "there was a group that was different than what the thoughts of the mayor were."

That group had a majority on council and was able to pass motions without Norton's support, including one to look into repealing the controversial 2005 tax break the city gave to Canaport LNG.

McAlary saidNorton's lecture on conflict of interest "certainly had a role to play in how things ended up."

But Lowe said it never got nasty with Norton.

"Sometimes we had a difference of opinion. He never hollered at me. If he had, I would have hollered back," she said.

McAlary said Norton was doing what voters wanted: keeping the focus on a few key priorities, such as dealing with a huge deficit in the city's employee pension fund.

The previous council was seen by citizens as badly divided and not able to get things done, saidMcAlary.

Norton and the councillors elected in 2012 "campaigned on the basis we would respect each other and work together. [The mayor] kept that issue in the forefront of everyone's mind through the whole term.

'Was the last council a good council?'

"And if you ask people in Saint John today, `Was the last council a good council?' They would say yes."

Norton often points to the pension fix as an achievement, although his PC leadership rival, former finance minister Blaine Higgs, has suggested the credit should go to the Alward government.

"We changed the rules so that municipalities could do it across the province," Higgs said at one PC leadership forum.

Waldschutz, who is supporting Higgs, saidNorton "had very little to do with that. He did what he was told: sign on the dotted line."

McAlary saidshe saw Norton's temper "occasionally," but added politics, even at the municipal level, "is a rough-and-tumble business. It's not for the faint of heart.

"Some people are very forceful in the way they try to persuade you to agree on certain issues. Is that right or is it wrong? I don't know if it's wrong. I don't know if it's right. But it happens in every organization, and it especially happens in levels of government."

Rough-and-tumble debates with ruffled feathers doesn't sound exactly the same as working together and forging consensus.

But Norton saidthe results in Saint John speak for themselves: the pension fund fix, a new $229-million water system on the way, and stable finances.

He saidthere was a consensus early on that those were the big goals, "and my role was to make sure we stuck to those priorities. That meant being tough and making sure we made the tough decisions the whole way through.

"I'm always open to hearing feedback on how to make sure I do a better job, but at the end of the day, it's all been about making sure we stick to a set of priorities. That's what we're all ultimately fighting for, to make sure we're getting the best for our communities or in this case for the province."