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Driving local solutions: An interview with Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison

1. September 2, 2025
2. 9 min read

For years, The ‘Scotty’ Charity Golf Tournament has brought people together across Parry Sound and Muskoka to raise funds for local charities. Now, that grassroots momentum is growing into something even more lasting: the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund.

Spearheaded by Member of Parliament Scott Aitchison, this endowment fund was created to address urgent issues like food insecurity, housing, mental health, and poverty reduction. In partnership with the Muskoka Community Foundation, the fund will support community-led solutions for years to come in Parry Sound and Muskoka.

We caught up with Scott to hear more about the story behind the fund, his hopes for its future, and why he believes everyone can play a role in building a stronger, more resilient region.

Q: The ‘Scotty’ Charity Golf Tournament has made a meaningful impact for many charities in our region. Can you tell us a little bit about the history of The ‘Scotty’ and what motivates you to support your riding through this important fundraiser?

Scott Aitchison: The history of The ‘Scotty’ actually begins before I was the Member of Parliament. When I was the Mayor of Huntsville, I hosted a golf tournament. We were able to raise over $100,000 for various different charities in the Huntsville area. And then when I became the Member of Parliament, I thought I would maybe carry on the tradition and keep doing a tournament. But, of course during the pandemic, we really couldn’t have tournaments, so we really didn’t get started until just a couple of years ago.

That’s kind of how it began, and I wanted to continue doing it and recognizing that needs still exist in all our communities all around Parry Sound – Muskoka. If we can do something to help, then we should. So that’s what we strive to do. As I meet people around Parry Sound – Muskoka and hear about the work they’re doing to support people in need, whether it’s housing or youth mental health or food insecurity, there are so many issues that people don’t realize exist in places like Parry Sound – Muskoka. And so every little bit we can do makes a difference.

Q: What led you to choose the Muskoka Community Foundation as a partner in creating the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund?

Scott Aitchison: The reason I chose to partner with the Muskoka Community Foundation is because they have a record of success already. It’s been in existence for about 20 years, and they’ve done a great job so far of connecting donors with organizations that are on the ground helping people all over Muskoka. And they’ve started working into the Parry Sound side of my riding of Parry Sound – Muskoka as well.

I also see an opportunity for more to be done, so by partnering with the Foundation, we’ve established something called the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund, which will be a fund that we will raise money for. Through that fund we can help a huge number of organizations all over Parry Sound – Muskoka. Instead of me and my organizers picking a couple of charities each year that we intend to support, I see this as a much better way to raise more money and to help more organizations. The Muskoka Community Foundation can really assist us in making those connections to a greater number of organizations, meaning we can help a lot more people.

Q: How do you envision the fund will support people and communities of Parry Sound and Muskoka?

Scott Aitchison: I envision a couple of things happening with the Muskoka Community Foundation and the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund, which will be invested in by the Foundation. Number one, I think that with the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund we’ll be able to raise more money and not just through the golf tournament. The golf tournament will be the signature event every year to raise funds for and to celebrate the work of the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund, but I envision us working throughout the year working with donors and other foundations to help generate more money for the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund.

I also see an opportunity for the Muskoka Community Foundation to grow in what it can do as well. One of the things that I’ve been working with the Foundation to do is to help smaller organizations by helping them accept online donations. Many people have heard of an organization called CanadaHelps. And it’s an amazing organization that started many years ago. And in many ways was the only way for a lot of very small charities and small rural communities. I’m thinking, for example, of food banks and some of the really small communities here in Parry Sound – Muskoka. They don’t have the capacity to have online e-commerce sites. CanadaHelps has been a great vehicle for those smaller charities to accept donations online. Now, the problem is that CanadaHelps charges a fee to do that, as do the credit card companies. Those fees tend to be kind of high because they have to work with so many different groups.

With the Muskoka Community Foundation, we can take on that role locally and do it for cheaper. The money that is generated by processing those donations for the smaller charities stays in Parry Sound – Muskoka to help the Foundation expand its capacity, which means more money goes to the local charity, but more money stays here in Parry Sound – Muskoka as well. So we’re going to expand what the Muskoka Community Foundation can do. And while doing that, we’re going to help more people and keep more money right here in Parry Sound – Muskoka.

Q: In what ways do you hope to grow this new fund?

Scott Aitchison: I’m excited to see the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund grow, not just through the signature event, The ‘Scotty’, which will be a great event. We’re going to keep growing that and make that a bigger event as well, but I see an opportunity to grow this fund to create an endowment that will continue to help people in need all over Parry Sound – Muskoka for years to come, and we can do that throughout the year. We don’t just have to raise money at one event.

I envision it becoming a fairly significant fund that many people know about all over Parry Sound – Muskoka, and it becomes sort of central to helping lots of different organizations. I think of it in some ways as kind of like our version of the United Way. I think people in larger centres like Toronto are very familiar with the United Way and it generates a lot of money all across the region to help a lot of different charities. That’s kind of what we want to do with the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund to create an endowed fund that keeps growing and keeps giving more to support people in need.

I’m eager for the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund to live long past me. Politicians have a shelf life. There’ll come a time where it’s no big deal that the Member of Parliament is hosting a golf tournament, or I won’t be the Member of Parliament anymore. But this fund, this vehicle that we can use today to support people, can continue long after I’m gone, long after any of us are gone. This is a way to make sure that there’s a lasting legacy of support and generosity in Parry Sound – Muskoka long after The ‘Scotty’ is over.

Q: What would you say to someone who is considering whether they should give to the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund?

Scott Aitchison: For someone who’s not too sure if they should make a donation or support the Parry Sound – Muskoka Community Fund or the Muskoka Community Foundation, my request to them would be to think of the good that has happened already, and think of the good we can do.

A lot of people – a lot of seasonal residents in particular – in Parry Sound – Muskoka would be more than happy to help but they don’t know what the issues are necessarily. They may not know where to go to help. They may just have never been asked. I think that if we work collaboratively with residents – permanent and seasonal – there’s an opportunity for all of us to come together in a way that helps people that maybe we don’t even know about.

I like to describe the situation of housing in Parry Sound – Muskoka or homelessness. We don’t think of homelessness because being an issue in cottage country, it’s often hidden. You don’t see it like you do in the big cities on the street corners. It’s been hidden for a long time, but it’s a growing problem. You don’t see tents in parks, but there are tents in the trees, in the forests. You don’t see that, and if you don’t see it, you don’t know it’s there.

This is an opportunity for us to share with all of the community, all communities all around Parry Sound – Muskoka, that the need is there. It is real. And anybody who thinks that that should be solved, then this is the vehicle to use. This is the way to make sure that we get very important donor funds into the hands of the people who are on the ground actually working with people to solve problems, to alleviate hunger, to alleviate homelessness, to alleviate mental health challenges that people are having. This is the most effective way to get your donor dollars to the people that need the help.

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