Coun. Paul Borrelli faces onslaught of internet memes

Windsor's version of Al Gore is defending himself after an onslaught of memes ridiculing him surfaced on social media this week.

Coun. Paul Borrelli claims he is one of the masterminds behind moving the Downtown Windsor Farmers' Market from Charles Clark Square to its new, more centrally located spot on Pelissier Street.

"So glad for the new location!" Borrelli exclaimed in a Facebook post on the weekend. "It took a bit of pushing by Larry Horwitz and I and months of late night meetings and strategizing at Tim Horton's.

"I proposed this concept to Larry after being introduced to the Farmers Market in Lancaster, California."

Several residents disagree and find his Facebook post laughable. So, they took to Twitter and Facebook to poke a little fun at the first-time councillor.

People were quick to compare Borrelli to Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president and Democratic presidential candidate. The rumour persists that Gore once claimed he "invented the internet." Snopes, a website dedicated to dispelling myths, rumours and urban legends determined Gore never made the claim.

Still, Mark McKenzie was the first to post a meme that compared Borrelli to Gore, nonetheless.

Jon Liedtke posted a meme that took the clever approach of creating a meme claiming Borrelli invented, well, memes.

A meme posted by Dean Scott wondered if Borrelli is the man behind sliced bread.

And that holiday last week? A meme posted by Andrew Foot says you can thank Borrelli for that, too.

All the photos seemed to be lifted from the Windsor Star's website.

Borrelli told CBC's Jonathan Pinto he hasn't seen the memes because "I don't often look at these messages."

"I have been promoting the initiative for quite some time," Borrelli insisted.

He said he came up with the idea at a conference in Austin, Texas. It was there where he heard of the market in Lancaster, Calif.

"What I didn't know until just recently was this idea had been proposed several years ago but was rejected," Borrelli said. "That I didn't know. However, that has nothing to do with what I did. I brought it back to the fore, after my Austin, Texas conference."