Ministers for the People, Among the People

On February 27th, students shuffled into a Mulroney Hall classroom to hear both Sean Fraser and Seamus O’Regan speak about their lives, experiences, and politics. The event was organized by the Political Science Society.

Sean Fraser is a StFX graduate, the federal Minister of Immigration, and represents the riding of Central Nova (our riding!). Mr. Fraser was a lawyer before he got involved in politics. Mr. Fraser is married and has both a son and a daughter. Seamus O’Regan, who is from Newfoundland, is also a StFX alumnus. He is the federal Minister of Labor and represents St. John's South riding. Before Mr. O’Regan’s career in politics, he was a journalist and worked on CTV National News and Canada A.M.

The speakers began with some advice and reminisced about their time at StFX. Sean started by saying, “this place means a lot to me, and it helped shape me into the person I am.” Seamus recalled the StFX Students’ Union election, by surprise, as the hardest election in which he's ever run.  Maybe more surprisingly, he did not win! Mr. O’Regan also praised the university, saying the “great thing about a small university is that you can meet people from different walks of life and different interests.” Both Sean and Seamus’s roles overlap significantly. Labor and Immigration intertwine, and they both agree that it is great that the two of them get along as you really need to help each other to move things forward.

Students in the classroom asked questions ranging from environmental to immigration issues and even asked how to be successful in politics.  Both politicians agreed that, indeed, Canada needs more people, and that immigration is important to both a healthy economy and labor market in our future. They also said that times are changing. You used to be able to walk down the street and say, “this house is Conservative and this one is Liberal,” but now people don’t vote the same way each election. Mr. Fraser continued by saying that an important part of being a politician is letting the people know you care because you work for them, after all. He says, “nobody cares how much you know till they know how much you care,” and that the “best thing you can do is show up when you can, be present.” On the topic of being a good politician, Mr. O’Regan stressed that these three words are the most important: affability, ability, and accessibility.

To end the conversation, Mr. Fraser gave a few hopeful words, stating that during times of inflation, there is no better country out there to weather the storm. Mr. O’Regan ended the talk by encouraging students to keep up the great work, saying, “you wouldn't be here if you didn’t care, don’t lose that!”