Reelected in a landslide victory, Mayor Darrin Canniff says he’s excited to see what the next four years will bring.
Canniff handily won a second term as Chatham-Kent’s mayor during Monday’s municipal election with 75.13 per cent of the votes over his two opponents, political newcomers Andy Fisher and William Pickard.
Expressing his excitement about what he hopes to see accomplished in the next four years, Canniff said he’s looking forward to continuing to grow Chatham-Kent.
“My goal in the next four years is to ensure that we have everything that a large community like Guelph or somewhere has, we have it here in Chatham-Kent,” he said. “I want to see our kids and grandkids want to stay here because there’s job opportunities, because there’s things to do.”
However, he said the biggest challenge facing the municipality is the lack of affordable housing.
“It’s not going to fix itself tomorrow. We need federal and provincial money. That’s what makes housing affordable is being subsidized by federal, provincial, and municipal [governments],” he said.
While some have criticized the mayor and council for not focusing enough on the smaller communities in Chatham-Kent, Canniff refuted the claim. He pointed to manufacturer United Industries Inc. announcing a new facility in Tilbury, as well as several housing developments in the towns of Blenheim and Wallaceburg.
“I work very hard to make sure I get out to all of the communities regularly. And we are one community, whether you like amalgamation or not, we are one,” he said. “We want to enhance living in all of those communities. We see growth in all of them… it’s not just Chatham growing, it’s all of us.”
With 12 incumbent councillors regaining their seats at the Civic Centre and five new faces filling out the rest of council chambers, Canniff said he’s hopeful for the future.
“It’s going to be a group effort here as we move [forward] together,” he said. “The next four years are going to be pretty amazing.”