Canada election: MP-elects in the Barrie, Ont. area reflect on campaign after Liberal win

After the Liberal Party secured a minority government in Monday night’s federal election, both Conservative MP incumbent elects for the Barrie area spoke with Global News to reflect on their campaigns and look toward the future.

Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte MP elect Doug Shipley said he was “disappointed” with the overall results of the election and that he hoped the Conservative Party would form government.

“We’re back exactly where we were after spending $610-million,” Shipley said, referring to the cost of the pandemic snap election that was called on Aug. 15.

“I was disappointed at the call, too, because it was tough to get people engaged during the summertime. A lot of people were on vacation.”

Barrie—Innisfil MP elect John Brassard said Monday night’s results demonstrated that Canadians want to send a message to all political parties that they need to work together to solve current challenges.

“In my view, they want us to all work together to make sure that we deal with the challenges that lie ahead,” he said.

“I’ve not seen this country more divided than it is today along regional lines and other lines. In order to deal with the challenges that we’re facing, we have to work in a unified manner to come up with solutions.”

During their campaigns, both Brassard and Shipley said they heard about affordability being a top issue for voters.

“There was a lot of talk about the cost of living and how that’s impacting families in the riding,” Brassard said.

“People were telling me that they’re noticing the price of everything going up, including groceries, gas and housing.”

Brassard said he also heard from constituents about COVID concerns, while Shipley said he heard about the opioid crisis, the soon-to-be built supervised consumption site in Barrie and climate change.

“The fourth wave was definitely a concern to people,” Shipley added. “They wanted to make sure we’re going to be healthy and safe.”

Shipley said he also heard from business owners who are concerned about staffing shortages. He said his priorities haven’t changed — that he wants to continue to work hard for his riding’s residents.

“I’m hopeful that we do take that partisanship aside and we start focusing on the issues that are important to Canadians and the impact that many of the measures that the government is taking is considered when decisions are being made in Ottawa,” Brassard added.

“These inflationary pressures that are happening and causing Canadians to pay higher prices for just about everything is really having a financial hit on household budgets.”

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