Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski will be maintaining his office in the western part of his riding after all.
There was speculation that Powlowski would have to close the office after he was unable to find a part-time staffer, but someone will be stepping into the role and the office at 271 Scott St. will remain open.
Powlowskis said it was a struggle he knows many businesses in the riding have faced, to fill the role.
“As you and everyone in Fort Frances may have noticed, the Marcus Powlowski office has been closed since [the last employee] left, the office has been empty. I have had the same problem other employers in Fort Frances have had. I’ve been looking, I’ve been trying, I’ve been advertising. I’ve been asking people to try to get somebody to work in the office,” he said.
“I was getting pressure from my Thunder Bay office, saying ‘why don’t you close it? It’s an albatross. It’s costing money. Nobody’s there. We can do the work from Thunder Bay.’”
But Powlowski says it was important for him to keep the office open.
“But I said no, I don’t want to close that office. I think it’s really important that the people of Fort Frances Rainy River have similar access to their representative as Thunder Bay.” he said.
“I know a lot of stuff you can do by phone or online, but for a lot of older people, they want to be able to go somewhere and see a real person. If you’re having a problem with your Old Age Security, or with your passport or with your immigration, you can actually go in and find a real person there who’s going to talk to you, who’s going to address your problem. So I’ve got a new person, Norma Jean Calder, who’s going to start working there. Hopefully in the next number of weeks, she’ll be opening up the office twice a week.”
The schedule for the office hours is yet to be determined but it will be made public once confirmed.
