What About Bob?

Please allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is Bob Masaro. My wife Kathy, two sons  Drew (Andrew) and Paul and I have been residents of Osgoode for over 30 years. We certainly have appreciated bringing up our family in such a warm caring community.

I have met many wonderful people in this area while volunteering for the Cancer Society and for 17 years for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. I also volunteered as an Osgoode area captain for the Heart and Stroke for twelve years. I am also very proud of how both of our son’s and my wife have been excellent volunteers in the community.

I am currently working as a substitute teacher, most often at St. Mark High School. My educational background includes specializing in Urban Geography, History, Political Science, Economics and Law. I have been a teacher for over 30 years and had the pleasure from time to time of teaching the Civics course. Many of my students have told me that they have had more interest in Politics since taking my course. I hope my passion has encouraged the involvement of some of the future citizens of our community!

I have also had various other forms of employment, including working on the roads for the City of Ottawa during the summer months, a time in real estate and for several years in an oil refinery as a warehouse supervisor. I feel that these experiences can help my perspectives as your representative.

I would like to take this opportunity to that the people that supported me during my campaign to be your representative on municipal council during the 2010 and 2014 elections. Unfortunately, running against a “forever incumbent” (Doug Thompson in 2010) and his hand-picked protégé (successor George Darouze in 2014) proved difficult.

In conclusion, in so many ways, I am very different than many of the other individuals running in the elections. I cannot really call myself a “politician” because I am absolutely not in this for a career. I feel very strongly that an individual should only step forward to represent a community for a time, not as a career. That is why I believe so strongly in “Term Limits” for municipal politicians.

Municipal politics is the most grass-roots form of democracy. New concepts, ideas and a variety of individuals stepping forward can only improve our representative democracy.

In summary, I am running in the election to listen to your needs and properly represent our rural community for a few years, not forever. Furthermore, I hope I can also inspire some “very capable” young people to step forward in the future.

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