Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack, who is well-known in the Ottawa Valley, welcomed Billy “The Kid” Denault, Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MPP, to the Ontario Legislature last Tuesday when he was sworn in as the 1,984th MPP in the province’s history.

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Arnprior – The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur for the newly-elected member in the Ontario Legislature for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, Billy Denault, as he begins his career at the next level of politics.

The 25-year-old Arnprior resident, who was elected to council in that town in the fall of 2022, easily retained the seat for Doug Ford’s Conservative Party that had been represented for the last 22 years by John Yakabuski of Barry’s Bay.

With more than a 25,000-vote margin, Mr. Denault rode a wave of solid support, much like his predecessor did for several elections, and now as he settles into his role as MPP, he is looking forward to serving his constituents. The last few weeks have been devoted to getting his riding office up and running (same location as Mr. Yakabuski’s) and getting staff in place and going back and forth to Queen’s Park and settling into his office and apartment there.

“It’s been about a month of just getting down and getting ready for work,” he said.

Throughout all of this, Mr. Denault has been attending events and meeting as many people as he can in the constituency and arranging meetings with different institutions such as hospitals and municipal leaders. He has also met with the local Ministry of Natural Resources personnel to prepare himself in the event of spring flooding, especially along the Ottawa River.

He said his style of representing the riding will be somewhat different than that of Mr. Yakabuski, simply because no two people are alike, but he adds, “those Valley values of being honest, going out and meeting people face to face, and getting to know the community and the people, that’s the way John did it and that’s the same sort of style that I’ll do as well.

“But obviously we are two different people, and I am going to be different in my own way,” he said. “We have different personalities, and I am sure that will come out over the course of the term.”

Mr. Denault continued on to say he enjoys people and loves to being out among them.

“When I was on council, if there was an event going on, I tried to be there and be present in the community because people want to see their representatives out there and they want to meet their representative, and I recognize that is why I was successful as a councillor,” he said.

“That’s how I will be as an MPP as well. I want to take these four years to meet as many people as I can because I recognize that the campaign was only 30 days. It’s an opportunity for me to continue that and continue to go out there and be out in the community in all parts of the riding.”

Mr. Denault said it was quite an honour to be the 1,984th member of provincial parliament to have been sworn in last Tuesday since confederation.

“To be a part of that ceremony and a part of that process was almost breathtaking in a way,” he remarked. “I can’t even describe it. It was just amazing and an honour to be a part of that process.”

He said he is looking forward to working with his colleagues as he embarks on this part of his journey in life, adding Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack, who has a summer home near Eganville, and a few others have taken him under their wings as he familiarizes himself with his new position.

The legislature reconvenes on April 14, but Mr. Denault plans to spend the first four days of the week until then at his Queen’s Park office immersing himself in the position and getting to know his staff there and colleagues, and building good, cordial relationships.

“It’s been a really easy turnover,” he said. “John has been really good at accommodating and helpful in terms of navigating what I need to do in order to get up to speed.

“It’s been an honour to be elected as the representative for my home riding and I really am just hitting the ground running, getting ready to get out there and try and continue the legacy we have had of really good representatives in Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke.”

Locally, he will continue to push for the four-laning of Highway 17 westward from Arnprior while the new government will also be focusing on the US-Canada tariff issue.