A little break for everyone for the holidays, but I'll be posting again very soon and I hope you'll join me and join in with comments (keep it clean, please).
Our council certainly has a new look and a new feel as well. So far it seems to be an improvement and we hope that will continue. I'm sure they know, as we do, that you can't please all the people all of the time. But an honest effort to actually listen to residents and try to help will go a very long way in gaining the approval of the general electorate.
Regional council, on the other hand, has obviously not listened to the people. At the end of the last term, there were many residents who spoke to the greenbelt issue - so many who were
upset by regional council's actions in that regard. So what was the first action of council in this new term? They unceremoniously and without even trying to hide it, got rid of the best voice on Planning Committee - that of Ajax Mayor Steve Parish, who has been on that committee for many years. He has a stellar reputation for looking out for environmental issues and having common sense when it comes to planning issues. But he is no longer on Planning - obviously his voice was too strong and too much at odds with the wishes of Regional Chair Anderson and others on regional council. Who will speak for the residents, for the greenbelt, for common sense on that committee now? We can hope there will be a champion among the newer members of Planning Committee, but whoever tries to take on that role (if indeed, anyone makes the attempt), will have a difficult time of it. This will be one committee to keep a close watch on.There is much more, but this is a start. I do hope that residents will take a strong interest in issues that affect all of us in Durham Region and Clarington in particular.
