By Chad Feehan / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Like most politicians you’ll speak to this year, Seamus O’Regan has his mind set on the plight of cash strapped Canadians, both in his home province of Newfoundland and in the country at large.
Despite the circumstances many people find themselves in, the MP for St. John’s South – Mount Pearl said he is confident the steps the Liberal Government has taken, and is working towards, will ease the economic burdens.
“Everybody’s been on edge. Anything we can do to help alleviate that is going to be really important,” O’Regan said in a year-end interview just before Christmas.
O’Regan points to the grocery rebate and “climate action incentive,” among other measures, and cites the three year pause on carbon taxes on home heating fuels announced this past fall, to, the government said, give people some breathing room to switch from oil to electric heat. Atlantic Canadians can avail of up to $22,000 in government rebates for the transition.
“I think it’s a very practical thing to do, so I’m very happy about that,” he said. “I made the switch myself…saved a fortune.”
O’Regan said Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne will also be meeting with international supermarket chains in an attempt to get more competition in grocery stores in hopes of bringing down inflated prices.
Energy prices and rate mitigation, particularly here in the province, are also on his mind.
“Nobody knows better than Newfoundland and Labradorians about energy prices because we’ve lived and the anxiety around rate mitigation (because of the Muskrat Falls project) for the better part of a decade,” he said. “We’ve managed (to find) $5.2 billion to help the province mitigate those rates, so that was a big deal. But I think we’ve got to keep a very, very close eye to make sure we’re not adding more to the cost of living… Interest rates really hit people. Whether they hit them in their mortgage, or hit them in rent, credit cards or any personal debt they have, and a lot of us have debt.”
O’Regan said the federal government is intent on figuring out how to look after people until these rates go down, which according to indications from the Bank of Canada and the US Federal Reserve, is slated to happen eventually.
“This time last year (inflation) was eight per cent, now it’s three,” he said. “The interest rates went up to try to tame inflation and keep prices from going up any further, and that appears to be working; prices have stabilized.”
O’Regan recognizes housing is a massive problem in the country, as well as its association with the cost of living, and notes the government's dialogue with the City of St. John’s and the City of Mount Pearl as a move in figuring out ways to deal with the issue.
“We have to make sure that we make sure we have housing available to people, so that will also help with the prices,” he said. “We don't have enough housing, and we don't have particularly affordable housing.”
He said lifting the GST off new builds earlier in the year has encouraged some construction.
Despite these moves to make things a little better for the average Canadian, O’Regan is well aware of the ire directed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Government at large. Poll numbers show rising dissatisfaction and are coupled with direct calls for the Prime Minister's resignation. O’Regan has campaigned as a close personal friend of Trudeau, and as Labour Minister he is Newfoundland’s representative in the federal cabinet and the PM’s point man for the province. That could tie his own political fortunes to the prime minister’s come next election.
O’Regan said he takes the discontent seriously, but not to the point of worry. He argued the challenges related to the cost of living is a driving force of discontent in general.
“You take some dissatisfaction more seriously than others,” he said. “Some are really grounded in significant issues and differences. If someone’s going to call them in the evening (for a phone poll) and say ‘How's the government doing?’ the answer isn’t always going to be positive because they’re just feeling a lot going on. But that isn’t to say those numbers aren’t important… I think they are. I don’t live and die by them. They can be fickle.”
O’Regan said he has faith in Trudeau, stating he is at his best when his back is against the ropes, both literally and figuratively.
“This prime minister, who has always been underestimated, went from a distant third place party to a majority government,” he said. “He has tonnes of energy, we continue to have tonnes of energy.”
O’Regan also stands by the Liberal policies that some may interchangeably call socially and economically progressive, and how the two are two sides of the same coin, citing services like dental care for seniors as an example of this fine line.
“I think there’s a very deliberate campaign to characterize some of the work we do as woke,” he said. “Our focus has always been on economic bread and butter issues. But there are real problems, you know? I grew up in Labdrador. I saw firsthand the disparity between indigenous and non-indigenous communities. All my academic work in my studies has been on indigenous issues and how economic development could help… I’m pretty fortunate that I’m here as a Member of Parliament three times elected as an openly gay man, married to a man. As a kid, I never dreamed that this day would ever come. And you know what, most people have moved beyond it, they want to talk about other things.”
O’Regan also stands by the party’s support of unions, saying replacement workers devalue the value and dignity of union workers.
