This past year as the Member of Parliament for Vernon–Lake Country–Monashee has felt like a decade packed into 12 months: exhausting, eye-opening, and one of the greatest honours of my life.
I’ve spent it bouncing between Ottawa and the grounded, everyday reality of people back home in the riding who don’t care about the political circus—they just want someone to fix problems and tell them the truth.
First and foremost, I have to give kudos to a rockstar staff. Jasmine, Marcy, Jeannette, Kandace and several volunteers keep the machine rolling in high gear, not only doing their jobs, but actively looking for ways to improve the process.
Marcy and Kandace established, furnished, and fully staffed a functioning constituency office by the first week of July, and we set up satellite outreach in the lower riding, including the Monashee region, and expanded our presence in rural and underserved communities.
We’ve built strong working relationships with resource centres in Vernon, Lake Country, the Slocan Valley and Nakusp, and we’ve engaged with large and small employers across the riding to better understand what keeps them up at night.
Marcy and Kandace take care of the riding office and spend their days helping constituents navigate through problems. Jeannette and Jasmine, my Ottawa team, keep the wheels from flying off—sifting through mountains of information, prepping files, and making sure I’m where I need to be with the facts I need to have.
Because I believe that social media is for interaction and not simply to post information.
It seems to me that folks want to be heard, and to know that they’ve been heard, so I’ve answered hundreds of people on social media. I also reply to thousands of emails sent to my main email address…over 9,000 since election day on April 28.
In Ottawa, my days have been carved up by Question Period, committee work, and a never-ending stream of briefings and meetings.
I’ve pressed the government hard on national defence—NORAD modernization, Arctic sovereignty, and the uncomfortable reality that the world is getting more dangerous, not less.
I’ve sat through testimony on restructuring our armed forces and the integration of the Coast Guard, listening to soldiers, sailors, aircrews, bureaucrats, and experts describe what’s working and what isn’t.
Behind every dry acronym and policy document is something very simple: first deterrence, and second the expectation that if war comes Canada will be ready.
At the same time, I’ve used every opportunity to hammer home what people at home talk to me about most: the cost of living, the security of their jobs, and the fear that their kids won’t be able to build a life in the communities they grew up in.
In speeches and hallway conversations with other MPs, I’ve tried to connect national decisions to the sawmill shift worker in Lumby, the farmer outside Armstrong, the small business owner in Lake Country, and the young couple in Vernon staring at a mortgage renewal with a knot in their stomachs.
Ottawa has a way of turning real people into statistics; part of my job this year has been to drag the conversation back to flesh-and-blood reality.
This year Marcy and Kandace opened nearly 400 casework files—immigration applications stuck in limbo, CRA nightmares, OAS back payments, veterans fighting for the benefits they were promised, and seniors struggling with federal red tape.
I’ve watched my staff coax answers out of systems that seem designed to delay them.
When a senior finally gets a long-overdue pension deposit, or a family hears that their immigration file has moved, they send notes that remind us why we do this—people telling us we did in two weeks what they couldn’t accomplish in a year, or that our help restored some faith that government can still work for ordinary citizens.
Those quiet victories matter more to me than any headline.
We’ve also put a lot of effort into making sure people see and hear from their MP, whether or not they’re plugged into politics.
We completed a household mail-out and mailed a calendar to every home in the riding.
We launched and actively managed social media on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube to keep people informed and to invite conversation, not just broadcast talking points.
We connected local businesses and non-profits with the Canada Summer Jobs program, helped youth through in-school presentations and direct engagement opportunities, and hosted my colleague Garnett Genuis for an employment roundtable with the Vernon Chamber of Commerce and local leaders.
We stood up and opposed CFIA actions at the Universal Ostrich Farm, showed up at grand openings, anniversaries, and community milestones, and made sure there was a federal presence at parades and local celebrations—including a Burma Shave style Christmas initiative to spread a bit of cheer across the riding.
Personally, red-eye flights, late-night votes, early-morning committee prep, then rushing home to try to be present in the riding—it’s a grind for all of us.
But every time someone writes to say thanks for untangling a file, or stops me in a grocery store to say “thanks for fighting for us,” it refuels the tank.
That’s what this is all about for me. I suppose there are different motivations for different MPs, but my motivation is to use this position to make real meaningful change, even when it means taking lumps for saying what I really believe instead of what people want to hear.
Looking back, this year has been a mix of frustration and hope.
Frustration at a government that, in my view, leans on grand announcements and too often ignores real-world outcomes.
Hope because I’ve seen, up close, the resilience, decency, and quiet courage of the people who call Vernon–Lake Country–Monashee home.
As I turn the page on the year behind and look toward the next one, my resolve is simple: ask tougher questions, listen more carefully, keep my feet firmly planted in the riding, and never forget who sent me to Ottawa in the first place.
Thank you, and God bless.
Scott Anderson,
Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee