Our Meeting with Former Premier Bob Rae

This past week, the interns had the pleasure of speaking with the Honourable Bob Rae, the 21^st Premier of Ontario. It’s not every day you meet one of the subjects of a portrait in the Legislative Building in real life, so it was truly an honour to welcome Mr. Rae to our space! 

Mr. Rae has been a stronghold in Canadian politics for decades, serving as leader of the provincial NDP, Premier of Ontario, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada as an MP, and most recently, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations. With a couple degrees underr his belt, he got his start as legal counsel before running as a Member of Parliament for the NDP. After making his name as the party's finance critic, he was recruited to run for leadership of the Ontario NDP. Recounting the strengths and weaknesses of his first election campaign as leader that led to him leading the first NDP government in Ontario's history, Mr. Rae recounted how important timing, statistics, and decisions by other actors influences your own success in these situations.

From the ups and downs of his impressive career, he had a wealth of lessons and stories to share with the interns. He emphasized the importance of learning how to fail, both in our private and public lives. He also emphasized the strengths and weaknesses of current progressive policy strategies, as well as his own in the past, and advised how to use these strategies in our future careers in public policy and governance.

Thank you Mr. Rae, for sharing your time with the group year after year. His honesty, kindness and leadership left a lasting impression on the interns, and they will surely remember this meeting for years to come.