As we welcome in 2023, the area's two MPs told BarrieToday what they are looking back at, and forward to.
Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard and his Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte (BSOM) counterpart, Doug Shipley, both agreed recent tragedies in the community are fresh in their minds, particularly as slain OPP Const. Grzegorz (Greg) Pierzchala will be laid to rest next week.
“If you’d have asked me a week ago I would have said I am thinking about affordability and how Canadians are going to make it next year, but with Const. Pierzchala coming home (Friday), tragedy is on my mind,” said Shipley. “This has been a rough year for our policing community and their families, especially as their deaths could have been avoided. It's simply tragic.”
Brassard agreed with Shipley and added a tragedy from Aug. 27, that claimed the lives of six young residents, is something nobody will forget.
“First, the death of six young people in a car accident on McKay Road and the murders of South Simcoe Police Officers Russell and Northrup shook the community to its core,” said Brassard. “Now the recent murder of OPP Officer Pierzchala from Barrie has added to the sadness from the tragedies that have been felt locally.”
Brassard said what he deemed the affordability crisis is also on his mind.
“Many families and seniors are struggling simply to afford the necessities of life because of 40-year highs in inflation and rising interest rates and it’s becoming worse by the day as the impact of rising interest rates are beginning to be felt,” said Brassard.
“Young people are despondent, feeling like they’ve been lied to and let down and are losing hope that they will have the same opportunities as their parents," said Brassard.
Shipley echoed those sentiments, but said he hated “to sound all doom and gloom.”
“I don’t like to sound negative, that's just not me, but I can’t help being worried for folks. I have been to local food banks and the numbers of people needing assistance are higher than ever,” said Shipley.
When asked what he was looking forward to personally in 2023, Shipley said he was hoping everyone’s family is happy and healthy in the new year and said he and his wife will enter the next phase of life as empty-nesters as their son graduates high school.
“It will be a different time for us as a family, for sure. But I do hope that we can all get through this coming year together, as friends and neighbours,” said Shipley.
Brassard hopes 2023 becomes an election year.
“Quite frankly in 2023, I believe and I think many others are now seeing that we need a new approach to resolving the challenges facing our nation and by that yes I mean we need a new federal government,” said Brassard.
“If he calls an election as is being speculated, locally we are more than ready and we will be ready nationally to provide an alternative that unites the country and turns the pain many are feeling right now into hope.”
