One-term Clarendon councillor Ed Walsh is looking to take the top seat in the municipality after outgoing Mayor John Armstrong announced that he wouldn’t seek re-election. He will face off against Gerald Dagg, the former Mayor of Rapides des Joachims who ran against Armstrong in 2017, finishing with roughly 40 per cent of the vote.

Walsh has worked in Ottawa in the intelligence and communications field for the past 36 years, and has lived in the municipality all his life. As a third generation resident of the area, Walsh still owns the property that his father and grandfather farmed, and said that he enjoyed the people that lived there.

Walsh said that he talked with Armstrong and felt that he could carry on with the files that council had worked on for the past four years. He said that he was proud that they were able to keep taxes low and maintain the municipality’s extensive road infrastructure.

He said that if elected, his priorities over the next term would be to help local residents and businesses get back on track after all the disruptions due to the pandemic. He also hoped there would be opportunities to attract new residents to the area.

He said that he would have an “open-door policy” with citizens and would be interested in hearing their questions and concerns.

The full interview with Walsh is available below: