A familiar face in recent months, flying the New Democratic Party's orange flag during last summer's provincial election, was acclaimed earlier this week as the federal candidate in Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte riding for the fall election.
Dan Janssen, who grew up in the Anten Mills area and now lives in Barrie, is a baggage handler and union representative at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
When he sees challenges, whether at the workplace or in the community at large, "it inspires you to step and try to do something about it," he told BarrieToday of why he chose to run federally. "Becoming a candidate is kind of an extension of what I'm already doing, I feel. Being an MP would be the same thing."
During last year's provincial campaign, Janssen says he learned plenty of lessons on the hustings, particularly in regard to strategy
"I also learned just how effective canvassing is," said the 37-year-old father of one, adding he'll also carry over many of his campaign volunteers. "We were able to win five polls out of the 64 polls in the riding and those were the polls where we canvassed a little bit more heavily. So, having a strong volunteer base is going to make a difference."
Now he'd like to take what he has learned and focus it on federal politics.
"It's another opportunity to connect with the residents in our riding and to learn about the issues that they have," he said.
Some of the issues he foresees included pharmacare, affordable housing, the opioid crisis and the environment.
"I think environmental issues are going to be top of mind for a lot of people, whether that's water issues, with the protection of groundwater in the north area of our riding, or climate change," Janssen said.
Janssen believes there's an appetite for change locally.
"People are tired of what's been going on with the Liberals," he said. "I'm hoping that they're also not going to forget what was happening with 10 years of the Harper government, either, but we'll see.
"It's very conservative in our riding, and people tend to vote Conservative, but I think the NDP is going to be offering a lot of solutions that will be very attractive to the many voters in our riding that will be looking at other options."
Janssen also believes he can break through that tradition.
"I'm going to do my best to explain to voters why an NDP government would be the right choice this fall," he said.
During the local campaign, Janssen said he expects it to be "respectful."
"I don't see any reason for it not to," he said. "It'll also be pretty exciting. The (provincial) campaign was pretty exciting and I expect to see that again. Even though it will be challenging, the challenge is part of the excitement."
Nationally, Janssen said he would also like to see a respectful campaign, "but time will tell."
"We're already seeing a battle between the two big parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, and a lot of attention is going to the (SNC-Lavalin) scandal that's been ongoing," he said.
"My views on that is there is some wrongdoing, of course, on behalf of the Liberal government that could be addressed, but it's becoming a battle between those two leaders," added Janssen.
The federal election is set for Monday, Oct. 21.
