Estranged brothers face off in Canadian mayor’s race

The mayor of a small Ontario city is facing a lone challenger in his re-election campaign — the estranged brother he hasn’t spoken to in decades.

Bill Steele, who is running for his second term as mayor, is facing off against his brother Charles in Port Colborne, a city of nearly 20,000 residents on the shores of Lake Erie, in a hotly contested race as voters head to the polls Monday.

Charles Steele filed paperwork to run for the office at the last minute, he told the Guardian.

“[Bill’s] politics are quite different from mine. He’s pretty right-wing. I’m for the little guy,” said Charles. “I’d like to see the citizens take back our future and not hand it to the powerful elite.”

The siblings haven’t spoken in more than 30 years, until a recent debate, the outlet reported.

“I was quite nervous. I never debated or anything like that in front of a crowd,” Charles told the Guardian. “And I got a little mad a few times. But [my brother] thinks he’s entitled to become mayor. And his arrogance was bothering me.”

The Steele brothers haven’t explained the source of their estrangement.