On January 21st, we had the opportunity to sit down virtually with Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation and Francophone Affairs. For some of us, this was our second time meeting with Minister Mulroney, after sitting in on her meeting with the Quebec interns the previous week. Minister Mulroney offered us some insights gained from her own experiences in law, business, and politics. She spoke to the value of becoming an expert in a field. While she described herself more as a “jack of all trades,” she explained to us that having expert knowledge in a certain area is an advantage because people will always have to rely on that knowledge. She also spoke about the challenges she’s experienced being both a parent and a politician. In the 24/7 world of Ontario politics, she explained that finding balance between work and family is an ongoing challenge for her and many of her colleagues.
A meeting with a Minister would not be complete without some policy-wonk chatter, and this meeting was no exception! We asked Minister Mulroney about her plans for helping public transportation recover from the hit it has taken during the pandemic. She shared with us some of the work her Ministry has been doing, including collaborating with transit agencies to put in place advanced safety and cleaning protocols and enhancing educational messaging to riders to let them know that public transit is safe and operating as normal. We finished up our conversation with a fascinating discussion about how she receives feedback from the opposition parties. She noted that one of her main methods for “hearing the other side” is listening carefully to the questions posed to her during question period. Five months into the internship, having watched more raucous question periods than we can count, it was encouraging to hear about how question period can serve as a source of education and communication between Members. Thank you, Minister Mulroney, for taking the time to meet with us!