ADAMS: Tom Dingwall must demand a return to an elected regional chair

Clarington's next mayor has one mandate: build Clarington Strong. That's it. Claringtonians deserve a leader who can turn that slogan into a reality. That starts with Mayor-elect Tom Dingwall standing up and demanding a real explanation from Doug Ford's government for why they took away our right to elect Durham's regional chair.

Several months ago, the Ford PCs decided Claringtonians were no longer qualified to choose the person who leads the upper tier of our municipal government that spends our taxes and shapes the services we actually use. The last person we elected as our Regional Chair is out the door starting tomorrow.

Did John Henry do something specific that actually justified firing him? Have the PCs pointed to a scandal or even a clear policy disagreement that required this? No, they didn't. Doug Ford did it because he can't handle it when municipalities tell him to mind his own business.

Melissa Whitefield (who ran for Durham Regional Council this recent cycle) and I do not agree on much. We're a part of different political circles, and I expect we will continue to disagree on plenty going forward. But Claringtonians have a right to elect Durham's regional chair, and the Ford PCs massively overstepped by taking that right away. On this one specific point, we are aligned 100%

I have yet to hear any of Dingwall's supporters defend this change. Hell, Tom himself ran for the regional chair's job back in 2018. Dingwall's history and the local opposition I've seen (including from people who backed him) give him both the obligation and a clear, decisive mandate to forcefully demand an explanation.

When the PCs were informed by Durham Regional Councillors and municipal leaders in Clarington, Oshawa, and across Durham that they did not approve of this, they did not make an effort to persuade us to their point of view. Instead, they passed legislation that removed our right to choose despite never having campaigned on it in any of the previous provincial elections.

I do not have a problem with Kevin Ashe personally. My concern is that Claringtonians never had a say in who leads our upper-tier council. Yes municipalities in Ontario are legally under authority.. That should not mean that the province can step in whenever it dislikes a local decision and brush aside local democracy.

Doug Ford should not be allowed to take the right to choose away from Claringtonians. Any mayor who says that they are putting Clarington first should be ready to say that and keep saying it. When the next provincial election comes around in 2030, that mayor should also be ready to support whichever party likely to end this experiment in provincial control.

Tom Dingwall was elected mayor and our local and regional councillors were elected too. Claringtonians, as well as the entire Durham Region, should have had the chance to choose our Regional Chair as well.

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