Meet Granville Anderson
Dear Neighbour
It has been a privilege to serve the Municipality of Clarington as Local and Regional Councillor over the past eight years. During this time, the community has navigated significant challenges with resilience and a strong sense of unity.
My family and I have lived in Clarington and Durham for more than 40 years, and I remain committed to contributing to the community through my experience as a long‑time resident, local business owner, and community leader
On October 26, I am asking for your vote to allow me to continue the important work for Clarington, and Durham Region. Much has been done as promised since 2022, and I am looking forward to representing our community with experienced, stable leadership. United we stand in building Clarington, divided we fall. Let's keep building Clarington!
About Granville
- Local and Regional Councillor – Wards 1 & 2 (2018-2026)
- Ministry of Labour Mediator (Over 20 years)
- Local Businessman: Anderson Mediation and Consulting Firm
- Member of the Regional Health and Social Services Committee
- Durham Region Transit Commissioner
- Deputy Mayor - Municipality of Clarington (2021-2022 & 2026)
- Chair of the Clarington Planning and Development Committee
- Advocated for the Durham Region Anti-Racism Task Force
- Durham Region Anti-Racism Task Force Alternate Chair
- Former Durham M.P.P. (2014-2018)
- Former School Board Trustee and Board Chair (2003-2014)
The Mediator-in-Chief: Anderson Reimagines Clarington
By Garth Hardie
Granville Anderson served as the Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor for Clarington, where he has lived for over 40 years. A former mediator, school board trustee and MPP for Durham, he brings a collaborative, community-focused approach to public service. Anderson has led key initiatives in healthcare, including the re-development of the Bowmanville Hospital, and has championed major infrastructure projects like Highway 407 and 418 extensions and, the currently ongoing expansion of Bowmanville Avenue from two to four lanes of traffic to support growth and connectivity. He is committed to guiding Clarington’s transformation into an inclusive, economically vibrant community where residents can live, work and play.
Early Life, Community Roots & Public Service
Anderson arrived in Clarington as a teenager, when his parents, Samuel and Victoria, emigrated from St. Elizabeth, Jamaica to resume their teaching careers in Newcastle and Bowmanville. Drawn to the area’s blend of rural, inclusive, neighbourly charm and urban access, Anderson made Clarington his permanent home. He studied Business Administration at Seneca College and York University and later earned a mediation certificate from Windsor Law School.
Community service has been a constant. As a single father raising two children, Anderson coached football and baseball, served on school council, and volunteered with the Durham Literacy Council and Rotary Club. The challenges he witnessed in the education system drew him into public life as a school board trustee and Board Chair for 11 years. Today, Anderson—who with his wife Angela subsequently raised their three additional children—approaches his civic vision with the steady sense of responsibility that has always shaped his public life. He is poised and prepared to guide Clarington through its next generation of growth.
A pivotal moment came at Seneca College, where he met Alvin Curling—then Director of Student Services and later a Liberal MPP. Anderson entered public life through Curling’s provincial campaign, learning how political work and community advocacy intersect. His involvement with Curling and Roy Williams at the Jamaican Canadian Association strengthened the organization’s voice on justice issues and its role as a cultural home for Toronto’s Black diasporic community.
After 23 years as a mediator with the Ministry of Labour, Anderson launched his own mediation firm in 2011. He was elected MPP for Durham in 2014, lost his seat in 2018, and returned to municipal politics—now serving as Deputy Mayor of one of Durham Region’s fastest-growing communities.
Infrastructure, Transportation and Economic Positioning
Clarington spans 611 km² along Lake Ontario and is home to approximately 117,000 residents. Its location anchored by Highways 401, 407 and 418 has shaped Anderson’s long-standing advocacy for transportation infrastructure. As MPP, he insisted Clarington be recognized as part of the GTA and included in major projects such as the Highway 407 extension and the GO Train expansion into Bowmanville. Although the GO project was halted due to a change in government, it is now back on the provincial agenda.
“Transportation is key to the social and economic future of Clarington,” Anderson says. “Not only does it help residents travel to work across the GTA, it attracts the kinds of industry and commercial and entrepreneurial opportunities that allow residents to live, learn, work and play in their home community.”
Clarington’s industrial legacy runs deep-from the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station to the birthplace of Canada Dry and the small Enniskillen buggy company that evolved into General Motors. Today, 46.4% of local youth aged 18-24 is enrolled in postsecondary programs, a sign of a community preparing for a diversified economic future.
The Waterfront: Clarington’s Next Development Frontier
Clarington has more waterfront land than any other Durham municipality, yet much of it has remained inaccessible. A public-private partnership with forward-looking and community-minded developer Kirk Kemp will transfer approximately 40 acres of shoreline to the municipality in exchange for responsible balanced development rights elsewhere—making a public waterfront financially achievable.
Anderson envisions a vibrant, family-friendly shoreline with shops, theatres, boardwalks and picnic areas. He acknowledges misinformation circulating online, including race-coded concerns and exaggerated claims of 40-storey towers. While zoning allows up to 15 storeys, he notes that “it is unlikely that anything over six storeys would be built” due to rigorous planning processes.
“Changing the face of a community… raises fair questions among reasonable, well-meaning people,” he says. “We are walking the talk of transparency, inclusion and respect by making accurate information readily available.”
Garth Hardie's article continues. Read on...
Recreation, Culture and Public Amenities
Inclusive Leadership and Community Cohesion
Inclusive Leadership and Community Cohesion
Recreation is central to Anderson’s vision. Middle Road Park recently opened, new pickleball courts have been added, and three outdoor skating sites, Courtice, Newcastle are already opened and Bowmanville is slated to open this year.
The South Bowmanville Recreational Complex is advancing as a major hub for sports and community programmin
Recreation is central to Anderson’s vision. Middle Road Park recently opened, new pickleball courts have been added, and three outdoor skating sites, Courtice, Newcastle are already opened and Bowmanville is slated to open this year.
The South Bowmanville Recreational Complex is advancing as a major hub for sports and community programming. To meet the needs of a growing and diverse population, Anderson championed the acquisition of 50 acres on Maple Grove Road for a multi-use recreation and entertainment district, including sports fields—soccer, baseball, a cricket pitch and a venue capable of hosting major rock ’n roll concerts and other mass entertainment activities.
“These amenities are designed to attract business, support family life and facilitate the transition of Clarington from a bedroom neighbourhood to a fully integrated lifestyle community,” he says.
Inclusive Leadership and Community Cohesion
Inclusive Leadership and Community Cohesion
Inclusive Leadership and Community Cohesion
As Clarington grows and diversifies, Anderson emphasizes leadership grounded in listening, collaboration and cross-cultural understanding.
“Navigating the growth process successfully is a balancing process that requires collaboration from all stakeholders,” he says. Governments respond to evident needs; developers must act with social resp
As Clarington grows and diversifies, Anderson emphasizes leadership grounded in listening, collaboration and cross-cultural understanding.
“Navigating the growth process successfully is a balancing process that requires collaboration from all stakeholders,” he says. Governments respond to evident needs; developers must act with social responsibility; citizens often express concerns in coded language that must be understood. “All these interests need to be heard and balanced… so that we can attract the calibre of business, industry and high-tech jobs and develop the waterfront for everyone to benefit.”
His mediation background—listening for understanding, creating space for diverse voices, building consensus—remains central to his approach.
Public Safety and Managing Growth
Inclusive Leadership and Community Cohesion
Public Safety and Managing Growth
Growth brings new pressures. Anderson supports reducing school-zone speed limits to 30 km/h and residential limits to 40 km/h, adding streetlights on Nash Road and Bowmanville Avenue, and increasing police resources. He also argues that Durham Transit’s PULSE service must adapt to new ridership patterns created by Highway 407 and future
Growth brings new pressures. Anderson supports reducing school-zone speed limits to 30 km/h and residential limits to 40 km/h, adding streetlights on Nash Road and Bowmanville Avenue, and increasing police resources. He also argues that Durham Transit’s PULSE service must adapt to new ridership patterns created by Highway 407 and future GO expansion.
“Investments in community safety are non‑negotiable,” Anderson says acknowledging the success of his efforts to expand Bowmanville Avenue from two to four lanes of traffic currently in progress. This welcome and necessary step towards Clarington’s economic success, he insists, must be supported by maintaining and improving community safety standards. “Facilitating the details of daily life is the key to preserving the safe, caring and inclusive quality of life we cultivate as our various neighbourhoods evolve.”
A RESPONSIBLE PATH FORWARD
“Granville Anderson has been that vital connection between our community and city hall, and all of us will benefit from his service.” - Andrew Rice
Anderson points to the Bowmanville Hospital expansion as a model for how growth should work in Clarington—responsibly, collaboratively, and always with residents’ lives at the centre. He vividly recalls a defining moment in the process: the new hospital needed more space for parking; building high rise parking was too expensive for the provincial government and taxpayers. Developer/entrepreneur Andrew Rice whose family had long ties to the land beside the hospital wanted to honor his parents’ legacy and the care his mother received there by offering his land so the hospital could move ahead without placing additional burdens on the residents.
Rice’s generosity came with its own challenges. Occupants of the property needed to be located. Anderson stepped in, working between the Clarington Board of Trade, Clarington Economic Development and City Hall to ensure the land was acquired at an affordable price while accommodating the people whose livelihoods were tied to the site. As Rice wrote in a letter to Council, “Granville Anderson has been that vital connection between our community and city hall and all of us will benefit from his service.”
For Anderson, the experience reaffirmed something he has believed since his early days in a mostly rural Clarington: communities thrive when people look out for one another. He remembers the neighbours who shaped his youth and the sense of shared responsibility that defined the community long before its rapid growth. That same spirit, he says, guides the best decisions being made today.
“As our collective vision unfolds,” Anderson says, “the creativity, inclusivity and cohesiveness we all value will generate the economic prosperity, resilience and vitality we enjoy as a community.”