Calls for "Reflection" by Local MP Following 2021 Election

This is a clip from the "Pilot" of TVC22's new morning program named "Good Morning from Rockland".  This show will be airing a new episode every Saturday morning and, although it will focus on the Clarence-Rockland municipality, it will also cast a news net throughout the region of Prescott-Russell. 

In three parts, there will be a news segment, a pre-recorded interview section as well as a guest joining us live in the studio for the final element. This clip is from the first in studio interview with newly re-elected MP Francis Drouin. 

MP Drouin, who was first elected in 2015, has not won three consecutive elections for the region of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell - news he found out was pretty certain at 10.45pm on Monday evening as he got a call from his election day chair saying "you're ok".

"if our numbers are good in Rockland, Hawkesbury and Embrun we're able to tell," the MP said.

Reflecting on a the election campaign, Mr. Drouin said he was aware that this wasn't an election people wanted but that a minority Parliament will "always have problems after a year or 18 months .... The opposition parties will say they want to work with government but they'll do everything in their power to slow down legislation," he explained. "I came here to Ottawa to work."

When asked if that means we can't expect the same kind of issues to manifest within the next 18 months Francis Drouin said he wanted to push for "reflection" within the Liberal party. 

MP Drouin was elected with 45% of the popular vote, a very similar tally with which he was elected in 2019. The one party locally that received a much larger cut of the popular vote was the People's Party of Canada, with local candidate receiving 4 times as many votes as his predecessor in 2019. 

"It's very easy to draw up a certain section of the population how are not happy because we have to wear a mask," he said. "I'm not happy about having to wear a mask but I wear it to protect myself, to protect my neighbor, to protect my family.

"In a time of crisis politicians have to make decisions that are not necessarily popular. I know for some people this is frustration, but there are rational reasons for why we are doing this. We either go back into lockdowns or we ask for proof of vaccinations. We can't go into another lockdown." 

TVC22 spoke to Brennan Austring, the local PPC candidate in the 2021 election about his views as well as those of his party in an one-on-one interview last week. For a greater understanding on his rationale head to the interview here.