WELLAND -- Damian Goulbourne knows it will be an "uphill battle."
"I will be putting my name forward for the position of regional chair," the outgoing Welland mayor said Wednesday.
Despite losing in his bid for a regional seat in the Oct. 25 municipal election -- and despite the recent outcry from people opposed to the idea -- Goulbourne plans to continue vying for the region's top job as an unelected candidate.
Goulbourne said he's not trying to overturn the decision of Welland voters. He said he's accepted the outcome, and quickly came to terms with it. But this is a different election, and a different position he's running for.
And this time, "it's regional council that decides who's going to be the regional chair," he added.
Goulbourne said he's received many phone calls from regional councillors, business leaders, people from the non-profit sector and educators, who have shown him an "overwhelming ... spirit of support" that he should run for regional chair, despite losing in the election.
After discussing the idea with his family and supporters, Goulbourne said he's ready for the campaign to come before regional council makes its decision Dec. 9.
"I do understand that there are a lot of individuals that have already been sharing their thoughts about why they think that it's a very bad idea," he said.
"But I'm following the rules. The rules are that regional council can appoint someone that is a sitting member, or they can go outside of their chambers -- and they have done that.
"It's not like this is a precedent."
It's only been in the past 20 years of its 40-year history that the Region has begun selecting a chair from within the ranks of regional council.
He said his reasons for wanting the job haven't changed since May, when he announced his intentions to seek the regional chair's position.
Through the work done by his team at city hall, Welland has brought in more than $100 million in private investment, including $50 million being invested by Welded Tube, $30 million by Universal Resource Recovery, $10 million at Lakeside Steel, and $15 million at Bioversal. That's not included the investments of companies like Global Architectural Metals, Salit Steel and others.
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