Dear Peterborough,

On April 5th it will have been 17 months since I stood in the House of Commons and resigned my post as the Member of Parliament for Peterborough.  It was an unjust and cruel ending to a career that I cherished and passionately poured every ounce of my ability into for almost nine years.  While I know there are those that believe that I did exceed my personal donation limit and by virtue of that failed to report campaign spending that placed me above the spending limit, I am thankful for the many thousands of my constituents, friends and neighbors that continue to believe in me and extend their support.

I have deliberately had little to say about the matter publicly since my resignation.  As many know, two days after Justice Lisa Cameron made her ruling my daughter Charlotte was born giving Kelly and I new purpose while renewing my determination to be the very best that I can be each and every day.  My two girls, Kelly and Charlotte, are the light of my life and I cherish every moment that we are together.

Peterborough, Peterborough County and the incredible people that call this place home remain near and dear to my heart.  This is my home, the only home I have ever known and I am so proud to say so.  While I have deliberately taken a necessary step back over these past months from public view and public events, you can trust that before long I will be back working to make our community stronger just as I did before and during my time in office.  While I have always worked hard going all the way back to my days as a child on the farm, I am well aware that I am also a blessed and fortunate person and as such will always do my very best to give back and to help others.

I believe in our country, our province and our community and I will always advocate for initiatives and ideas that I feel will lead to a brighter future and fight against those initiatives and ideas that I believe lead to a lesser tomorrow.    Political issues and public policy have always mattered to me and that is never going to change.

As I read in court, Theodore Roosevelt famously remarked “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure , than to take rank with those poor spires who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat.”  In this regard it goes without saying that I have known both victory and defeat, always in pursuit of a stronger, fairer and more prosperous tomorrow for those that I love, for my community and my country.  The threat of failure has never deterred me or lessened my determination to do big things.  I’m proud of the many things in my life, big and small, that I have achieved particularly those on behalf of my beloved Electric City Region and my country; to an even greater degree I’m proud that when given the chance that I dared and dreamed mighty things.

I remain forever grateful.

Dean  Del Mastro