Stephen Vance, Staff
Later this month Canada’s Governor General, David Johnston, will visit Meaford to present the municipality with its new coat of arms, and Mayor Barb Clumpus has proposed naming a park after him in recognition of the event.
Clumpus made the recommendation at the May 2 council meeting, and her motion found unanimous support from her fellow councillors to rename the park adjacent to the Coast Guard station at Meaford’s Harbour ‘David Johnston Park’. The Governor General serves as the Honorary Chief Commander of the Canadian Coast Guard.
“We will have the honour of having the Governor General come to visit our municipality towards the end of May (May 20). The Governor General’s office has been intimately connected in designing and producing our new coat of arms that this council has approved the initial drawing of,” the mayor told council. “In conjunction with such an important visit to our municipality, there is a relationship between the Governor General and the military, and he specifically has a strong honorary relationship with the Coast Guard. So, it is customary when a visitor of such importance comes to visit that there is recognition of that event in some way, and it seemed that this would be an appropriate mechanism, and an appropriate venue to recognize this visit.”
Other members of council offered their support for the proposed park naming.
“I support this wholeheartedly,” offered Councillor Tony Bell. “I think this is very pointed, I think it’s quite clean, I think it’s exactly what we need to mark the moment, and I think it will last.”
“It’s certainly a chance to seize the moment,” suggested Deputy Mayor Harley Greenfield.
Council voted 7-0 in favour of the proposal.
