Mason Ainsworth – Change in Orillia

If you could change one thing about Orillia, what would it be?

Oh, that is a tough one, but I think the big thing that would really help the entire city would just be for more people to be respectful of each other and of the community that they’re in.

One item that stands out in my mind that I know frustrates me and other people, is littering. Something that’s so simple. I think that if people didn’t litter that the community would be much better.

The flip side of that question is, what is one thing that you would never change?

I would say the people, and I know that sounds corny and politicians talk about people a lot, but Orillia really is interesting and it’s a very diverse group of people from different areas. Whether it be high income, low income, but the thing I’d say the majority of people do share is that sense of community in regards to giving back, going to events, getting involved in their community.

We got this nice award actually, which was pretty exciting, it was about our people. It was about how much they give back to their community.

Even if you look at the fundraising dollars that Orillia provides to a numerous amount of community groups, because I could tell you being with the City and being on Council, we have numerous requests all the time. But people in the community also give to those groups, and it’s really exciting to see that even though the reality is when we look at what the average income is, it’s very low in regards to the rest of Ontario, but also within the county.

But still people who are not having a lot are still giving a lot of their money and their time to these organizations and I think that really means a lot and that really especially when you’re raising young people, when they see that in their community whether it’s their father or their mother or their aunt or their uncle or their friend, getting involved in some of these organizations regardless of which one it is, they’re seeing that idea to give back, which I think really builds a stronger country.