After winning by a landslide in October’s municipal election, Dan Carter was officially sworn in Monday as mayor of Oshawa.

With the recent GM Plant closure announcement, he comes in at a trying time in the city.

Dan Carter has gone through his struggles in life, from addiction to mental health and being without a steady roof over his head.

Now, he’ll be tasked with helping find solutions for the city of Oshawa, as mayor.

“[It’s] one of the greatest honours I’ve ever been given,” Carter said. “Twenty-eight years ago, I was just trying to survive, and 28 years later many people have found a way of forgiveness, of redemption, of recovery and hope and this moment is for all those families and all those individuals that have loved ones who may have gone through a similar battle like myself.”

Carter sees the closure of GM’s Oshawa plant as his first priority.

“These are changing and challenging times,” he said. “I believe that this council and myself are built and charged with the duty to be able to be the ones that are leading us into the next generation. What people need to know is we’re focused, we’re committed and we will work together to be able to find solutions to today’s problems.”

“We either look at it, throw our hands up and say this is too much, or we say lets get together and figure this out,” said Derek Giberson, councillor for Oshawa’s Ward 4.

Giberson, who starts his first term on council, wasn’t expecting to deal with something as big as the GM announcement on the first day of the job.

“This is a city that has changed and transformed over many, many years, long before I was here,” Giberson said. “I think we are going to keep doing that, keep being resilient.”

Besides GM, Carter says his focus over the next four years will include balancing the books, the opioid crisis and homelessness in the city.

“I am determined to see two things,” Carter said. “One is the GO train extension to Bowmanville, and number two is that the Regional Innovation Hub is located in downtown Oshawa.”

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