EDITORIAL: ADDENDUM – Inaugural council meeting, Nov 21 : The Szpinner

The new council for the City of Pickering was sworn in at City Hall, evening of Nov. 21.

Something old, something new…a council worth watching!

This council is a vibrant and dynamic blend of new and veteran, men and women, young and older, traditionalists and new wave, Christian, Jewish and Muslim, and so many other features. A beautiful council, led very demonstrably by a new mayor who if the inauguration suggests the future, one which will act like family and act for families. The new mayor made the inauguration ceremony feel like a special family gathering. We hope his warmth, caring and friendship are blended into this council and into the community of Pickering.

One may have been too awed or too excited by the inauguration to see how special this council is, let us review some things from the event that affirm that this may be a council for the times.

There were immigrant parents there, proud Canadians standing even prouder and taller in seeing their child sitting in such an honourable and lofty chair, a place they would never have dreamed for their child;
With those same parents sat an octagenarian grandma, an immigrant too, smiling broadly while nodding her head in proud affirmation of her grandchild’s achievement though her own English was too limited to understand any of the speeches;
A significant other, a bastion of pride, standing solitarily as he shouted out, “Bravo ‘first name’ of councillor” with great pride, national pride and heartfelt love;
A council member reminiscing publicly of his roots sown in Jewish traditions, holding aloft the special family bible while publicly acknowledging his many prayers for the improved health and well-being of his wife;
A handicapped spectator sitting nearby, watching and then cheering with emotion and energetic exuberance for the councillor mother boasting of campaign victory be significantly due to her autistic son’s assistance and hard work;
The pride and appreciation flowed like wafts of heated breezes touching every spectator as a 25-year veteran, an eight-term councillor spoke quietly in praise of his family and his many dedicated volunteer supporters working endlessly, in the cold, the rain and the sunshine; and
The empathy and understanding washed over the spectators when the last councillor talked about his family, his late 98-year-old mother and his closest friend being his hardest-working campaign supporters, working tirelessly with dedication to the one goal, another campaign victory and they achieved it.