'Enough is enough' on growth issue
Mayor's Report
By Marolyn Morrison

As your mayor I represent the whole of Caledon. I learned 19 years ago as a school board trustee that when you do not win a vote at the board or council table, you leave that table and let it go. In order to keep your integrity, favorable working partnerships and the respect of your colleagues, you must move on and continue to assist your residents in whatever capacity you can.

A council decision is the position of the Town of Caledon and whether an elected politician likes it or not, it is the position that they should be taking forward as a united corporate position. In a democracy, the majority rules and once a council decision has been made by the majority of council members, we must respect that.

At the Town of Caledon we have many, many issues facing us that need our full attention and as one of the many e-mails I received recently pointed out, when they heard that there may be a reconsideration motion put forward on the growth issue - "Enough is enough."

That is how we should all feel because the vote has been taken and we need to move on to the many other pressing issues that my council feels are important and needs to be addressed.

As mayor I need to be focusing my energies on issues at the provincial and federal levels in order to try to get more funding for our municipality. I need to be networking with all levels of government and with my fellow mayors to support each other in our struggle for proper funding for our aging infrastructure, roads and bridges, and social programs such as social housing and affordable housing for seniors. The list is never ending and that is why I am on the AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) board of directors.

I am the chair of the Greater Toronto Countryside Mayors Alliance and we will be meeting in December to discuss the funding problems facing our municipalities. We also will come out of these meetings with actionable items to start moving the 14 countryside municipalities within the GTA forward so that we can access more funding. I intend to bring these items back to council for their information and endorsement.

We are in the process of dealing with the capital and operating budgets for the upcoming year. This is very important to our residents and businesses. We need to address the needs of the municipality, and at the same time maintain our primary objective of being fiscally responsible.

Over the next several months, council will have a lively debate about the specific needs of each ward within the Town of Caledon, but at the end of the budget process, we need to be united and support the decision of the council for the entire Town of Caledon.