Mason Ainsworth – Orillia City Council

What made you want to become involved in local politics?

That is a very big question. To try to simplify the answer for you, I essentially saw that things needed to be done in the community and the way things were being run wasn’t up to a lot of people’s expectations from what I heard in the community. So, I decided instead of just complaining I’d actually do something about it and get involved in the process.

A big thing I found was an underrepresentation on council prior to 2014, in regards to not only diversity on council but also in regards to ideas, discussions that were being had, as well as engagement within the community. I found that was quite lacking in certain areas from certain members and that was something that I could bring to the table and that’s the reason I originally got involved in politics in high school.

I saw that a lot of people weren’t being listened to and it was very much a select few that were deciding for everybody and I thought that shouldn’t be like that, that more people should be represented at the table. So, I took that same attitude throughout my post-secondary career and then when I ran for City Council.