The following year-end opinion piece was sent to BarrieToday by Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP Doug Downey.
*************************
This has been an incredibly challenging year for people around the globe. Here at home, Ontarians have sacrificed, supported, and worked hard to adapt to new and changing circumstances.
I have heard from hundreds of people locally about how lives and livelihoods have been affected. None of this has been easy, and I want residents to know that I am hard at work behind the scenes every day, making changes and modernizing systems that will benefit them.
I continue to advocate for the people of Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte on all levels. Tens of millions of dollars have been secured for local organizations and municipalities to help them through this year and into next, to build for the future.
Thanks to the advocacy of local parents, we were able to secure funds for Shanty Bay school to be rebuilt. I’ve worked with other ministers and municipal leaders to ensure a clear path for a seniors' living centre in Springwater, plus a medical and automotive innovation park in Oro-Medonte. We’ve seen investments in mental-health resiliency, infrastructure, transportation, policing, post-secondary education, health care, and long-term care beds.
As we enter 2021, our government continues to work toward a more modern, accessible Ontario for all. The government’s focus since Day 1 has been to make services more streamlined and convenient across all facets of daily life, including our court systems, digitizing government services, removing red tape and simplifying policies, while protecting public health and safety, and creating more flexible and responsible public services.
Serving Ontarians as attorney-general has also been a unique and fulfilling experience. In the past year alone, my ministry has appointed dozens of judges, passed three bills (one with unanimous consent) affecting 32 statues and four related regulations. We have amended 18 statutes, had six regulations put through other vehicles, and four private members bills on Ministry of the Attorney General statutes were introduced, two of which received Royal Assent.
My team has worked to transform and modernize the justice system decades in a matter of months. This means Ontarians will have an easier, faster, and more accessible justice system.
There is still more valuable work to be done. I am looking forward to finding more new ways to innovate as we come out of 2020 and guide our economy toward a healthy recovery. Thank you to every single person in Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte for all you have done this year to keep our community working together. Front-line workers, parents, children, businesses; everyone has done their part to contribute to our safety and well-being as a community.
I will continue advocating for you as we focus on growth in the new year.
*************************
