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MF: What has been your single biggest challenge over the last year?

JS: One major challenge has been that there’s so much insecurity and fear and frustration that people are feeling that it’s been hard to respond to that fear with a detailed plan. I wish I could be able to address all the concerns that I’m seeing, from job losses in Oshawa to the housing crisis to the fact that millions of Canadians don’t have access to medication. I know that people are in a tough time, and I wish I could have better solutions for people immediately.

Photo by Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press/File

MF: You’re looking toward an election year but, at the same time, you keep losing people. Why does this keep happening?

JS: I think part of it is that there’s a lot of folks in our caucus that have sacrificed a lot of their life in public office. And so while we thank them for their hard work and respect how much time they spent, I’m really excited about the new folks that have put forward their names, and folks that have represented us before that are coming back. Over the past weekend we had Andrew Cash, who was (formerly) the MP for Davenport. He’s our first Toronto-area candidate nominated. And then the same day in Hamilton, we had a nomination meeting for Matthew Green, who’s a prominent city councillor.

MF: But isn’t it possible current MPs are reading the tea leaves and not liking the way things are looking for the next election?

JS: Almost everyone has mentioned it right when I started that they were planning on not presenting again. And a lot of them are folks that endorsed me during the leadership, so they support my leadership and support me. So I think really it’s the fact that they’ve spent a lot of time and it’s a big sacrifice being away from home.