Scott Anderson, Mp for Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee at his election day party after winning the seat in the 2025 general election (file photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

By Liam Verster

Year End Review

“Decade packed into twelve months:” local MP reflects on busy 2025

Dec 31, 2025 | 1:54 PM

The Member of Parliament for Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee said he had a whirlwind of a first year in office.

In a release to Vernon Matters Scott Anderson said this past year “has felt like a decade packed into twelve months: exhausting, eye-opening, and one of the greatest honours of my life.”

Anderson, who was elected as the region’s MP in the April general election said he spent much of the year “bouncing between Ottawa and the grounded, everyday reality of people back home in the riding” so that he could try to fix the problems they see in the riding and inform them of the actions going on in government.

“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,” Anderson said in the release.

“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.”

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The local MP went on to say that his team opened nearly 400 case work files that ranged from immigration applications to Canada Revenue documents to Old Age Security back payments, and brought those forward to try to get them resolved.

“I’ve watched my staff coax answers out of systems that seem designed to delay them,” Anderson stated.

“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.”

Anderson said he also tried to expand his reach and communicate with people in his riding by launching and actively managing social media profiles, connecting with local businesses and non-profits, and participating in engagement opportunities.

He also touted his role in standing up against the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and for the farmers who lost their ostriches due to an avian influenza outbreak.

Anderson concluded that 2025 was a bit of a mix of frustration with a government that “leans on grand announcements and too often ignores real-world outcomes,” but also hope “because I’ve seen, up close, the resilience, decency, and quiet courage of the people who call Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee home.”

Looking ahead to 2026, the local MP also committed to “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.”