Achi news desk-
Amanda McDougall-Merrill says she is walking away from the mayor’s chair in Cape Breton after four difficult and challenging years, trying to find a better balance with her family life.
McDougall-Merrill, the first woman elected mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, recently announced that she will not be running for re-election in the fall. As she told CTV News Atlantic’s Todd Batti in a candid interview on Monday, social media and the storms and major battles that came to the island influenced her decision to resign.
“It’s been a difficult four years. We have had several states of local crisis, gone through negotiations with our unions, still working on coming out of COVID, many challenges that were definitely not in my campaign brochure,” he said. “I really thought I was coming in more about policy leadership and the more things that happen every day, but really most of our time was spent just surviving.
“I came in from a more academic perspective but being a nurturer and making sure when we weren’t heard, shouted louder.”
McDougall Merrill, who was first elected as a councilor in 2016 before winning the mayoral race in 2020, said she was proud of the work she and her team had done, noting how storms as Fiona and other natural disasters forced her to find her voice as a leader.
“I’m proud of the way we were able to move through and improve,” he said. “I’m definitely stronger than I thought I was. Going through those events brings out the best and the worst in us, and during Fiona I was terrified that my windows were going to blow in and I didn’t know I had it in me to give it aside.
“I am so much more confident in my leadership because of those roles but only because I have had my staff supporting me. We did it together and it’s pretty amazing.”
McDougall-Merrill said the general rudeness seen on social media regarding politics contributed to her decision not to run in the upcoming election.
“(The campaign) is not something I want to go through again,” he said. “I don’t want to focus on it just because of my gender. I remember there was a hashtag on social media called KnockedUpMandy during my mayoral campaign. You can’t unhear, you can’t unsee, you can’t know what you know.
“Unfortunately social media has given people a platform where they don’t have to be accountable. Four years in this chair have been quite heavy.”
McDougall-Merrill said she hopes people will continue to get into politics and plans to remain vocal even as she enters a phase of her life.
“We need leaders to bring people together,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what role you’re in, you always have a voice and you deserve to be heard.”
