An announcement from out of left field during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Coun. Steve Peters advised he was resigning his post on council effective immediately.
This year is Peters’ 30th anniversary of holding elected office.
He wants to spend more time in his position as chair of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, a position he was appointed to last year.
The organization represents 170 growers of over 4,300 acres of greenhouse vegetables.
Peters noted that Ontario is home to the largest concentration of greenhouses in North America and ranks second in the world.
Peters stressed, “I want to focus more attention on the issues that the sector faces because it’s an exciting sector. It has the potential to really grow more. And we have the ability to make it even bigger.
“And look at new crops, the growth that we’re seeing in strawberries and in lettuce that we don’t currently represent that hopefully will fall under our umbrella in time too.”
Peters told myFM much of his time in politics has been devoted to job creation.
He continued, “There’s tremendous potential out there for other investments and there’s still a lot of land available around the Amazon plant too for other investment. So we are, as a community, not only St. Thomas but all of Elgin county, we’re really well positioned economically for the future.”
In 1988, Steve Peters was first elected to city council at the age of 25. Three years later he was elected mayor, the youngest mayor in the country.
It’s not the first time he has resigned from council.
He walked away to successfully run provincially as Liberal candidate for Elgin-Middlesex-London. He first served as opposition critic for disability issues.
He served until 2011, including stints as Minister of Agriculture and Food and Minister of Labour.
From 2007 to 2011 he was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
In 2018, he returned to the council chamber at city hall.
He stressed he will continue to remain political.
Peters assured he will continue to serve on the Old St. Thomas Church Maintenance and Restoration Trust and continue to volunteer with the St. Thomas Food Bank.
In a media release, Mayor Joe Preston noted, “Steve Peters has been a colleague for more than 25 years, but more importantly, a friend. We have shared countless ideas, exchanged opinions, and worked side by side to strengthen our city – and that friendship will continue.
“His dedication to our history, our heritage, and our people has left a permanent mark on St. Thomas, and I am grateful to have had the privilege of working alongside him for so long.”
At its next meeting, city council will formally declare the seat vacant and decide how to fill it – either through a by-election or by appointing a replacement to serve the remainder of the term.
Written by Ian McCallum
