Sonny Spina, who ran in two previous federal elections, says he’s still a true-blue Tory who attended Friday’s Mark Carney event at Aurora's Westside as a city councillor Politics, they say, makes strange bedfellows. So when Ward 1 Coun. Sonny Spina was spotted hanging out Friday at a meet-and-greet with federal Liberal leader Mark Carney, does that mean he's now jumped aboard the Liberal bandwagon? Not a chance, says Spina, who ran for the local Conservatives in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, losing both times to MP Terry Sheehan, in one case by only 247 votes. Spina also gave thought to running in the current federal election. He insists he's still a true-blue Tory, and was attending the event at Aurora's Westside as a city councillor. But speaking to SooToday afterwards, he stopped short of specifically endorsing the party's federal leader or its local candidate. Does he endorse Pierre Poilievre? We asked. "I support conservative values in our community and I support the City of Sault Ste. Marie and the people of Sault Ste. Marie," Spina said. "If there's anyone here that wants to help advance the interests of our people or put things in place that will help support our people, that's somebody that I want to make sure I talk to, and somebody that I want to make sure that we keep our citizens connected with." And the local candidate, Hugh Stevenson, the former police chief? Does Spina support him? "Yeah. I support the people of Sault Ste. Marie," Spina told us. Interestingly, Spina says he will introduce a motion at the May 12 city council meeting asking Tom Vair, the city's chief administrative officer, to send a letter to Ontario’s solicitor general requesting pricing for switching to Ontario Provincial Police protection for the city. As SooToday's Darren Taylor reported earlier this month, the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service is believed to have gone gone over its 2024 budget by approximately $2.5 million. Other city councillors in attendance at Aurora's included Luke Dufour, Angela Caputo and Corey Gardi. Longtime NDP supporter Jeff Broadbent, who recently wrote a letter supporting Liberal incumbent Terry Sheehan, was also in attendance. - with files from Kenneth Armstrong