Wanted: at least one good woman – to run for a position on Wellington North Council in this fall’s election.
Female councillors sitting at the table in Kenilworth since amalgamation 10 years ago have been in very short supply – non-existent for the last couple of council terms -- and it’s high time that changed.
We had strong women on the various councils prior to amalgamation – Jean Weber, Susan Wetmore, Chris Brookes and Jean Leiper spring to mind as former Town of Mount Forest councillors, Evelyne Near in West Luther, Dorothy Jackson and Penny Rothwell in Arthur Township and in the Village of Arthur Trudy Gohn and Doreen Hostrawser, who also served as reeve for a number of years. We apologize for others we may have missed. But, the point is, we had women on council before and we need to have at least one woman on council again. Some people have pointed out that the rural area is under-represented in the make up of the present Wellington North Council. While that is true without a doubt, the other segment of the population not represented is the female segment.
We will be electing at least two new councillors in the October election – Councillor Ross Chaulk is seeking the mayor’s chair and Councillor Bob Mason has announced he will be not be running for re-election so that leaves two seats up for grabs. We do not yet know Councillor John Matusenic’s intentions. If he decides not to run, that will leave a third vacancy at the Kenilworth table.
We could list the names of some women, who would make stellar councillors in our opinion -- women who run or are retired from running businesses or other high profile jobs in the community, women who volunteer here, there and everywhere, women who have raised, or are raising, families and running households. Any one of them would be nothing short of an asset to Wellington North Council. Those women know who they are.
If you’re one of those women, please consider filing your nomination papers. If you know one of those women, please put on a little pressure to have her run for council. If we don’t get a strong woman on council in this fall’s, we won’t have another chance for another four years. And, that will be our loss.