Sarnia's mayor asked the new council to respect each other, and be committed to the city, during his address at the inaugural meeting Tuesday morning.
Justice Paul Kowalyshyn administered the declaration of office to the eight councillors and Mayor Mike Bradley.
Aamjiwnaang Chief Chris Plain was the master of ceremonies and students from Aamjiwnaang’s Binoojiinyag Kino Maagewgamgoos Early Learning Centre performed the national anthem in English and Anishinaabe.
Mayor Bradley told the councillors by running [in the municipal election] they've already demonstrated that commitment [to the city], but he warned the group it would be naive to say they won't face some difficult times in the 2022-2026 term.
"We're fighting high inflation rates, we're fighting high interest rates that continue to climb, we're also dealing with the fact that a recession [is predicted]," said Bradley. "Unfortunately, the more people predict a recession, the more it's probably going to happen. So, this first year is going to be, to me, the 'batten down the hatches' year. We just try to do the fundamentals, do the basics, and then continue implementing these plans that we've inherited from the past council, which have been very helpful to us."
Bradley said the previous council was tasked with navigating through a pandemic, and he warned the new group that we're heading into another variation of that pandemic now.
"How that's going to unfold, I do not know," he said. "Unfortunately, even during this election I noted it over, and over again, the distemper of our times. I'm sad to say this to this council, you're coming into a different world, where there's distrust of government, there's distrust of churches, there's distrust of almost every fundamental group in society and our job is to try to get that trust back."
Bradley said he's proud that a new addiction hub was announced last term and will open in the next two years.
"It's a dreadful issue for our city and for our country."
Bradley said a summit will be held this new term, with the county, to find solutions for local homeless and addiction issues.
He added that the new council will continue to assist with the development of the hydrogen hub, Line 5 challenges, and work on the city's plan that guides future growth and development for the next 25 years.
"It's going to have some challenges," said Bradley. "The Ford government has made it very clear, they're going to push a lot more responsibilities back on the local city to pay for, including development charges, including taking away some of our rights as a local government."
In the council’s first order of business, Bill Dennis, who led the polls for city/county councillor, was appointed acting mayor for the next year.
-with files from Stephanie Chaves
Students from Aamjiwnaang’s Binoojiinyag Kino Maagewgamgoos Early Learning Centre perform at Sarnia council’s inaugural meeting. #SLont @AamjiwnaangFN pic.twitter.com/IxrvDSwYEu
— Sarnia News Today (@sarnianewstoday) November 15, 2022
