Londoners will soon wave farewell to 2022, a busy year for the city dominated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and continuing challenges related to inflation, health care, homelessness, housing and mental health.
On top of that, residents also had to endure two election cycles within a matter of months, with one ushering in not just a new mayor but almost an entirely new council as well.
Last week, Devon Peacock, host of The Morning Show on 980 CFPL, caught up with newly minted Mayor Josh Morgan to take a look back at the year that was, his mayoral victory, how he’s been settling into the role and what challenges await the municipality in 2023.
Devon Peacock: Has this year gone by quickly? Slowly for you? How is it? How has it felt?
Josh Morgan: It was an election year, so it was pretty slow going by. A lot of doors to knock on. I mean, it was a good year. I would say I was pretty happy with the results of that particular event, but I think it was a long year. There was a lot that happened this year. Every year you think back on the year, you always forget some of the events that happened or you don’t realize it happened this year. But you know, one of the highlights for me as a baseball fan was seeing the (London) Majors win back-to-back championships, that amazing accomplishment that that team put together. There’s lots of other things that have happened, good and bad, through the year, but I think as a community we continue to come together when times are tough, and we celebrate together when good things happen as well.
When you look at the pandemic, it’s weird to think a year ago at this time, we were just in the beginnings of Omicron. It feels like it’s been forever ago. But the pandemic is still with us, it’s in a different era right now. How has the city weathered the pandemic this year?
Well, I would say, on a personal level, I think people are emerging from the pandemic, or at least trying to, as it keeps pulling us back in with different waves and the combination of respiratory viruses and challenges like that. From (the) city’s perspective, financially, the city has weathered it quite well with support from provincial and federal governments. We’ve managed to navigate through the most significant financial challenges of the pandemic without needing to go to ratepayers for support, so I think that was good.
But I’ll be honest, the pandemic really feels like climbing up a sand dune where you make progress, but you slide back down a bit… But it’s a tough slog, and it’s been a number of years for a lot of people, and I think this was the year where people really had a chance to see some of those family members who they hadn’t seen for a long time, again, taking the right precautions. It feels like we’re returning to normal, but it just doesn’t feel 100 per cent normal yet.
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One of the issues the pandemic has had … (is that) the pandemic really casts a light on outstanding issues that were at play before, but (were) maybe exacerbated because of it. We have, maybe, a new understanding of some of those issues. We’ve talked about them a lot in terms of housing and homelessness and mental health, but also, I guess, maybe as an opportunity to build into the future here.
Absolutely. Without any exception, the biggest challenges we face are homelessness and mental health and addiction challenges. Housing affordability is right there, too. These are issues that council will need to be focussed on in 2023, and will have to devote significant attention and resources to. They’re also issues that are complex, they’re multi-faceted and will require other community members, other agencies, other partners and other governments to support us on.
It will be an important year for us to establish early on what our plan is for homelessness, mental health and addictions in the city, and the work of the summits — there’s now been two and a third one will be in January — will produce a whole of community plan that we can then start to execute. The execution of that plan will be a very important role for council in 2023.
Continuing to deal with the challenge of housing affordability is only going to grow in pressure. We have many people who are coming to our city to live here. We have limited supply on the housing side and that’s really pushing up the prices. I know that has come down a little bit, but for most, rents and housing affordability is a significant challenge in our city, and this is going to be an issue that one city is not going to solve on their own. Often the pressure is related to both people coming to our city from abroad, but also people coming and moving around the province to find more affordable places, and despite the pressure we face, we are way more affordable than the GTA area, so we’ll continue to have that pressure through this year, and it’ll be an issue that we have to tackle in collaboration with the region and the province.
On a personal level, you are the 65th person to serve as mayor of London. We had the election this year. It’s a small club. Has it sunk in yet?
I don’t think so. I mean, I’ve had, you know, my kids into the office. I’ve obviously been doing the job, but it still feels a little bit surreal to me. I tend to get focused on the work and not on the office, so I do wake up some days and think it’s a funny thing that, you know, a kid from Clinton Township is now the mayor of the big city of London down the road. That’s kind of a cool moment. But, you know, most days I get up, I go to work, and I focus on the issues. And as you know, right after we got elected, Bill 23 came in, so there’s been no shortage of demands on my time and focus of energy. I’m really enjoying it so far, but every day is a different issue and that keeps things interesting for sure.
I’m sure it’ll be a busy start to the year, no doubt. Mayor Morgan, I certainly appreciate your time today and throughout the year, and we’ll chat well into next year as well.
Let me just say happy holidays to you and all of London in whatever way you might celebrate, and have a safe and happy few weeks with hopefully family and friends.
You can catch the mayor’s weekly appearances every Monday on The Morning Show on 980 CFPL, which airs weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
An audio version of the interview is available below.
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