The Mayor of Durham



2012 June - Trulls Road/Highway 2 - former location of

Courtice Horticultural Club planting.

   Political watchers in Durham Region are well aware that residents will directly elect their regional chair in the 2014 election.
  This means Durhamites will be led by what will be considered the de facto Mayor of Durham.
  Of course this should surprise nobody because the overwhelming majority of the electorate supported the move and the vast majority of politicians did as well - there are opponents but they are clearly in the small minority.
  The actual event was something of a yawn-fest because it was clearly expected.
  But here is where it gets interesting.
  Following the last election the Regional Councillors - by a wide margin - selected Roger Anderson to be their spokesperson and he proved to be excellent in that role.
  Roger Anderson is an incredibly effective politician and has wide support among several groups whose support would be helpful - if not necessary - to win the chair next election. You don't have to be a supporter of his to see how his knowledge of the arcane details of how Durham works is deftly wielded to great effect.
  Nobody gets the better of him even if they think they did and that would make him an effective voice beyond Durham's borders where we are sorely needing that strong voice.
  Of course there will likely be others to challenge for the position. Most notibly so far is Steve Parish, who some expect will enter the race - whether Anderson decides to run or not.
  However, it's clear Anderson's grasp of the issues and his personal persuasiveness should put him in the driver's seat with just over two years to go before election season kicks off.
  Anderson has baggage (can we say "incineratorgate party") but he will likely argue he was carrying out the wishes of Regional Council and few would argue that he didn't get the job done.
  But from this time forward every comment either Anderson or Parish makes will be scrutinized for hints about their political allegiances.
  In the end the real victory is for the people - in this at least we got what we wanted.
***
  I have a Twitter account which I mostly use for small business tweets but if you are not already following me on Twitter I can be found @markstanisz and also under Mark Stanisz on Facebook.
***
  Next blog I'll take a look at the new parkette under construction in downtown Courtice. The photo you see above is the construction site.