Darine Houmani 

Annie Koutrakis is a Liberal Party candidate for Vimy (Federal electoral district). She won the 2021 parliamentary election representing the Liberal Party. Kotrakis was born in Montreal, her parents immigrated from Greece in 1957. She says in our interview with her: “ I truly believe that for me, it was important to give back to the country where I was born and raised and my parents were welcomed”.

Here is the interview with her about her life, and her positions on the issues that matter most to Canadians.

How did your life pass and what motivated you to become interested in politics?

I'm a very hard worker. I'm not afraid to work. I care very much about service. All my life, I volunteered in one way or another. I truly believe that for me, it was important to give back to the country where I was born and raised and my parents were welcomed, and they sacrificed a lot because both my parents were almost children when they came here.

They were both born during right before the second world war in a small village in Greece, they had no education, no money, no language when they came here and they sacrificed a lot for me to be born here. I often used to ask my mother why she didn't have any other children with my father because I always wanted a brother or a sister up until the age of 18, I was asking them I would like a brother or sister. And my mother always told me that it was very difficult for them when they first came here because there was no help.

There was no help for immigrants in those days. There were no programs, no benefits. So they both had to work really hard. I was born and my mother stayed with me maybe a month, and then she gave me to a lady to take care of me because she was going to work every day. Then, for a really long time, she was the only person working back then because my father fell ill. So as a young mother, she was 22 when she had me, leaving me at the lady, going to work at the factory, going to visit my father at the hospital after that because he was not able to work.

Sometimes she was working two jobs. So all of that, she says, how can I have another baby? She always said this: “I wanted one child and that child belonged to god”. And, here I am.

I don't have her anymore, unfortunately. I lost her in 02/2020, '5 months after I first got elected. But at least she was with me when I took my first oath.

It was difficult. It wasn't an easy time. I mean, when you listen to the immigrant story, it's the same. The only thing that changes are the people's names, where they come from.

The only difference is, oftentimes, the newer immigrants now had a chance to become more educated than the people that came after the second World War.

I studied finance, commerce. I did all my professional career. I was in investments. I worked at CIBC.

I started at the very bottom, and I worked myself up after university. I ended my career before entering politics as the vice president branch manager operations at Raymond James which is a Fortune 500 company, an American company. I was there for about three and a half years before this opportunity found me.

What does it mean to you to be elected and able to serve the people?

I take this responsibility very serious. I always tell people I don't like politics. I'm not a politician. But I like the work that I do as a politician.

I really believe in the work because I feel that I am very privileged to have earned the respect and confidence from the people to vote me. So that I could, in whichever way I can, to be as helpful as I can. I think it's very important to give back to the society that gave me so much.

I think it's very important to be there for all my voters, and not only for the people who supported me. All citizens, it doesn't matter if you're in any other party. For me, they're all equal, and I'm there to offer them a service. If I am not going to be there to do that work, to make a difference in the lives of people that need help then what makes me different than anybody else? To me, it's a privilege to do what I do. It really is. I take that very serious and I remember, when I was in the finance, what is the difference between the services that I offered working for CIBC or somebody else that worked at TD Bank or Bank of Montreal, we all offer the same products.

The difference is how you do it. It's the service. So for me, it's very important to deliver superior client service. Now you're going to say your citizens are not your clients, but that's the way I see my citizens. First as my boss because they put me there.

But number two, I am there to service them. If I do not give them superior client service to help them, they're not going to continue to believe in me, and I'm going to stay home. And that's the right thing.

If as a politician, as a member of parliament, I do not do my job, I should not have the opportunity to serve the people. You make your way and somebody else who could do the job deserves to be there. So for me, it's I take pride

I remember the first time when I took my seat in the House of Commons and I saw my name, it said Annie Kutrakis. You don't imagine how I felt, because where else would I be given an opportunity to serve my country, such a beautiful country. It may not be a perfect country, but it's a great country. When I look at Greece's politics, for instance, there's four families that are always in power. Just like oftentimes we see that in The US. It's always the same families.

But here in Canada, you can become elected. You are given that opportunity. So I'm very grateful.

As a candidate for Liberal Party, what are your top priorities if elected?

If the people of Vimy honour me by re-electing me to serve them again, mine and Mark Carney’s priorities will be the economy and fighting Trump’s attack on Canada’s independence including tariffs to destroy our economy in an attempt to force us to become part of the United States. We are not junior Americans, Canada’s way of life and values represent who we are as Canadians no matter our origins, religion or language we speak.

Canada must respond by strengthening our own economy by expanding our trade with the rest of the world. We have trade agreements with 51 countries not just the United States. We will remove interprovincial trade barriers, create a truly national economy, invest in research and innovation, and support Canadian industries and workers during this transition.

I share Mr. Carney’s belief that Canada will come out of this stronger by standing united and self-reliant. No, Mr. Poilievre, Canada is not broken and we will not let you and Mr. Trump brake it. We should remember, that as a small junior partner during the Second World War (1939-45) with only 11 million people we played a huge military and economic role in defeating Nazi Germany and came out of the war strong, wealthy and confident.

Besides the issues around the Trump threats, the cost of living and housing affordability are critical to every Canadian. We should all be able to work in a good job and make enough to live well and have a safe and affordable place to live. These issues will also be affected ed by the Trump tariffs. That is why the issues are tied together.

Many Canadians believe they need to change something. What would you tell them about what you hope to do to achieve this change?

Many Americans also wanted change. Did they really get what they wanted? A new Leader and Prime Minister like Mark Carney is already a huge change. Party leaders always make a profound change on a party and a government. Mr. Carney is very different from Justin Trudeau. Yes, we all share the basic Liberal values of rights and freedom, inclusion, taking care of each other, but Carney will make the economy his focus and bring the Liberals back to the center. That is where I also am politically.

Mark Carney is the perfect person at this time to be Prime Minister and I am proud to have him as my leader and to be one of his first supporters. His credentials are amazing as the central bank head of two G7 countries, both times during crises, he was also head of huge businesses, and can negotiate with Mr. Trump as a senior business executive who understand each other. And he is a real gentleman with a great sense of humour, but is laser-focused on strategy and results.

Carney is the complete opposite of Pierre Poilievre, the life-long politican who has never done anything but attack, attack, attack in Parliament. Mr. Carney is a builder, Polivere likes to demolish. I know him, I’ve worked with him, I had to watch in parliamentary committees and in the House of Commons.

Mr. Poilievre loves to talk only about cutting. He wants to cut taxes so that he has a reason to cut as many programs as possible that benefit Canadians. He would love to eliminate the CBC-Rado Canada, the Post Office, Via Rail, our cultural programs, Foreign Aid. He would like to replica the Elon Musk in a free hand to cut government.  

According to voters, what distinguishes you from the other candidates running in this election?

I have six years of experience as a parliamentarian, a Parliamentary Secretary and a track record of community service, accessibility, and a commitment to Liberal values of inclusion and compassion. My staff knows that their raison d’etre is to provide the best service possible to my constituents. Period. As a member of the government, I am passionately engaged in the development of policy and priorities. I have had the profound privilege of being able to directly influence the direction of a G7 country and I take full advantage to do my part to make the lives of the people of Vimy and Canada better.

I am listening to the people of Vimy. Change means bold action on affordability, health, and fairness. I’ll work to deliver real, practical solutions. We want to focus on what Canadians need, and less on issues that distract and divide us.

There is an issue that mainly concerns citizens, which is the housing problem and rising rents. Does the Liberal Party have a specific policy to address this problem?

Mark Carney has rolled out a program to mass produce very attractive and affordable homes as we did after the Second World War. A new way of doing this. Mr. Carney brings his vast government and business experience to the job and will get it done, including training the hundreds of thousands of workers for these high paying jobs. We’re already building more homes faster, helping first-time buyers, and protecting renters through targeted federal programs.

Is there any plan to improve access to healthcare, andmental health services?

Absolutely. We’ve committed funding to expand mental health services and are working with provinces to improve access. We will increase, not cut funding to the provinces to expand and improve health services. We will also maintain and expand the Dental Program. We all know Mr. Poilievre and Mr. Blanchet would love to get rid of the Dental Program, the new federal Drug Plan.

Some voters hope that the candidates will work to stop the war on Gaza and, more importantly, stop exporting weapons and parts to Israel. What do you say to them?

Canada has always played a positive and constructive role in the Middle East. The first UN Peace Keeping force was the idea of (Liberal) Prime Minister Lester B. Peason as Canada’s Foreign Minister in the 1950s that got him a Nobel Peace Prize. We believe in a just and lasting peace. We support two states living side by side in peace and prosperity, instead of constant conflict. Canada has paused arms exports to Israel and supports international humanitarian law and is ready to send $100 million of aid to the people of Gaza.

With the growing concerns about Islamophobia, how do you plan to tackle these issues while ensuring freedom of speech and protecting minority rights?

We’ll continue working closely with Amira Elghawaby, the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia.  We will introduce legislation to make it a crime to attack or interfered with people in their worship. We support the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which preserves the rights of individual and should not be weakened or turned into an empty shell by provincial governments or Pierre Poilievre to satisfy their political base.

Some critics argue that Canada’s multiculturalism policy has led to cultural silos rather than integration. Do you think Canada needs to rethink its approach to multiculturalism?

Multiculturalism is a strength. We can improve integration through stronger language training, job access, and civic engagement initiatives. We can all be loyal Canadians and great citizens while also keeping our languages and traditions while also embracing the language culture, norms and customs of Canada and Quebec. Learn what this land is all about, its history, traditions, laws. These are not mutually exclusive – we can do both. This is very enriching.

Trump has expressed isolationist and controversial views on global conflicts. How should Canada respond to a potential shift in U.S. foreign policy under his leadership? And do you believe Canada needs to take a stronger stance in differentiating itself from American policies?

Prime Minister Carney has already started to mobilize our long-time democratic allies to make ourselves independent of the United States if it decides to go in a different direction. Together, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, the rest of the European Union and NATO, plus our Pacific allies like Japan, Australia, South Korea, is the largest and most formidable economic and power on earth and we have the military and technology to defend ourselves, democracy, human rights, and multilateralism.

Canada will take a lead role in playing a leadership and respectful role in a new world order while unfortunately, the United States is in another phase of its isolationist past.

Like all countries, Canada must act in its own national interest, but we believe that our interests, values of peace, diplomacy, and international cooperation, free trade, defending freedom and democracy are best served in a multinational approach of like-minded countries. This is the best way to meet the challenge of Russian, Chinese and others’ aggression, in whatever form that takes.

photo provided by Annie Koutrakis  'office