South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Janice Jackson is Bruce County’s new Warden for the upcoming year.
Jackson takes over the chair from Huron-Kinloss mayor Mitch Twolan who was been County Warden several times, first in 2007 then from 2015 to 2017 and also in 2019.
Jackson and Twolan ran for the position and Jackson won on the first ballot.
She was nominated by Kincardine Mayor Anne Eadie and was seconded by Brockton Mayor Chris Peabody.
The warden serves a one-year term and is elected by county council members. In addition to chairing meetings, the warden fulfills a public post as the head of county council similar to that of a mayor.
“I’m pretty excited. I’m really honoured to take on this role for a year,” says Jackson, adding, “2021 is going to have its challenges.”
Jackson says the first step is to get through the pandemic, “We have to find our way to the end of the pandemic and we’ve done a very good job so far, keeping the numbers down. We’ll continue to offer financial help to our businesses.”
“What I’d like to see is just a real focus on basic needs for the community,” says Jackson referring to infrastructure like roads and bridges.
Jackson adds, “We also need to put some resources into social issues like affordable housing, support for our families, there’s a lot of issues that we are facing in Bruce County but I think that 2021 is going to be a really bright year, once we get out of this pandemic and see sunshine at the end of the tunnel…I think we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us and I think it’s going to be really exciting work and we’re going to see a lot of forward movement.”
