Former MPP Bill Walker on the passing of friend and colleague Bill Murdoch

“It’s a sad day for Bill’s family and friends,” says former Huron-Bruce Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker.

Bill was one of those characters in our area and as everyone has said, he was a maverick kind of guy but everyone knew where they stood with him and he always did great things for our community.

When I went to see him at Chapman House hospice, he was Bill Murdoch right to the end.  He asked what was happening out in the community and was joking with his one-liners.

He did a lot for the community and was someone that we all should try to emulate as he put his heart and soul into his community.

Bill approached me to run when he was ready to retire and, when I stepped in after he retired, they were tough shoes to fill.  He set a high standard for a politician.  He had been there for 20 years and was almost unbeatable every election.  He did a lot standing up and saying what he thought and it was what he was known for.  He didn’t always go with the leaders of the party and, if he didn’t agree, he spoke his mind and that endeared him to a lot of people.

He stood for the average person and people in his constituency knew he was there working for them.”

Murdoch was Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound’s Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (MPP) from 1990 to 2011.  He passed away on August 16 (2022) at the age of 77.