Mayor Al McDonald is piped into council chambers for North Bay City Council Inauguration.
North Bay’s Council Chambers was the site of formality as the inaugural meeting of Council 2014 to 2018 took place Monday evening.
North Bay city councillors were piped in, followed by the North Bay Police Services Colour Party.
Richard Leveque sang O Canada followed by an invocation by Rev. Ted Harrison. Council was sworn in by the Hon. Justice Alain Perron.
The mayor's inaugural speech featured three key areas. McDonald wants the city to focus on: business, the environment, and the social fabric of the community. McDonald said there is now a stronger partnership with the Chamber of Commerce for business.
McDonald stressed the city will be working to protect the only source of drinking water. “Protecting our drinking water is paramount to our future as a city.”
McDonald talked of future opportunities for North Bay in the aerospace industry. “With the 10,000 foot runway and the strategic location in North America, we can be the horizontal launch pad for going into outer space. We have future opportunities in education, drones, space tourism, telecommunications, and fabrication of the materials."
Councillor Sheldon Forgette thought his first media scrum as the deputy mayor wasn't so bad. But the budget talks in his future might not go so easy. Forgette has been doing a lot of homework to get caught up on the city's finances. “I want to get consensus from everyone on what the budget will look like. The biggest issue right now is the $2.2 million dollar deficit."
Asked what she thought of the evening, Living Fit’s Harriet Madigan replied,"there wasn't one person in that room who didn't want the very best for North Bay. The new Council has to lead with the best interests of the community. If they think about the future generations, we'll be fine. But they really have to put aside their personal differences and work as a group."
Regular Council proceedings resume December 9.