It’s hard to imagine Clarington’s mayor any happier.
Adrian Foster is speaking to me moments after the official announcement that 2,000 jobs are about to be plopped down in his town of about 9,000 people.
Ontario Power Generation is centralizing its offices and moving headquarters from downtown Toronto — at the corner of College and University — to an empty field next to the OPG training facility on Energy Drive.
Located just east of Oshawa, the addition of all these jobs is music to the ears of local politicians after the GM shutdown.
While 1,200 of the jobs moving to the Clarington site are already scattered throughout Durham, the other 800 will come from Toronto and elsewhere in the GTA, even as far away as the Niagara Region.
Mayor Foster wants all those new workers to consider making Clarington home.
“This is a phenomenal community, twenty minutes from anywhere,” Mayor Foster said.
“If you want to be on the beach you can be on the beach. If you want to apple pick or berry pick it is 20 minutes from home. If you want to golf it is 20 minutes from home.”
From camping to fishing to cycling, Foster is selling the experience of living in Clarington as an outdoor paradise on the eastern edge of the GTA.
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