New leadership, new faces

First of all, we want to congratulate all the winners and to thank all candidates who ran in this election. Not all of our "preferred" candidates were elected, but several were and we look forward to a new year and a new council. And we hope that many of the candidates from this election will continue to attend council meetings, to present ideas, and to keep this group honest and accountable to the residents both in Clarington and in Durham Region.

All our new councillors will have a bit of a learning curve, and none more than our new Mayor, Jim Abernethy. But my hope is that he will be given some time and some leeway for getting up to speed before people begin criticizing or hounding him. It's a big job, but remember that this is a man who felt strongly enough about the previous leadership and the issues facing Clarington that he put his hat in the ring months before ex-Mayor Mutton's personal problems came into the picture - long before the assault charges were laid. So Mr. Abernethy deserves to be given a chance to address the problems Clarington has faced over the last several years, including the "democratic deficit". He will address the financial state of Clarington and will work hard on our economic development. He will be courteous to residents who make delegations to council and allow them to have their say. We will be watching of course, and while encouraging him in his new position, we will also hold his feet to the fire when necessary. But we welcome him as our new Mayor and look forward to good changes in Clarington.

While we hope that our new council will get along with each other, we also hope to see some much needed debate over issues, instead of the rubber-stamp approach that seemed to be the norm during the last term or two. We hope input from residents will be seriously considered and that fewer decisions will be made behind closed doors.

There will be much to discuss in the months to come and we hope voters in Clarington will attend council meetings and become involved in the process. The first meeting of the new council is on December 4, at Town Hall in Bowmanville, council chambers on the 2nd floor.

We want to thank all the campaign workers too, for helping the candidates to get their issues and faces out there, get their signs (ugh!) up, help with canvassing (door knocking and phone calls), and all the other duties that are necessary in a campaign. Without campaign workers and supporters, our candidates wouldn't get far!

And lastly, kudos to the voters of Clarington, who did a pretty credible job in voting for most seats, and who voted in higher numbers than in the previous election, and higher percentage turnout than any of the other lakeshore (urban) municipalities in Durham Region. Let's keep up that trend and stay involved.