Photo by Jane Hobson. Click for interview video by Ashley Metzger.Ottawa Centre’s newly elected MP Catherine McKenna sat down for a Q & A with Centretown News at Nate’s Deli to reflect on her campaign and the promises she made to voters. (Reporting by Alexandra De Pape, Video and Editing by Ashley Metzger)
How did your family react to the win?
Everyone was so excited. We had worked really hard, I had worked really hard, I’d built a great team. My family was certainly part of it; my daughters were really involved in my campaign. My husband (was) behind the scenes, and so it was just a really great night.
How were your daughters involved in the campaign?
Well, they apparently love door knocking. So, they would come canvassing with me and they would insist on going to their own door. I’d be at the door next door and they would say, “My mother, Catherine McKenna, is running. Do you have any issues or concerns?” And it was really great. It was just really nice to involve them and what’s also really nice is their friends – a lot of girls – are really excited about the fact that I’ve been elected. It just makes me really happy because, you know, they have a role model and hopefully some of them think about going into politics someday.
Were you surprised at your victory?
You know, at the end I thought we had a really, really good shot. Certainly, I was the underdog (Laughs). And a lot of people were surprised; I think a lot of journalists were certainly surprised. But I had been working at this for the better part of a year and a half, and I’d built a great team and we just knocked on doors. And I knew from politicians that were successful that one of the most important things you can do is get out and talk to people and knock on doors, so we just chipped away at it. By the end, I could certainly feel the momentum building and we had a great national campaign. So our leader, now the prime minister, he worked really hard, too, and he instilled in us the importance of just getting out there, working hard and meeting people. And because obviously we were doing really well nationally, a lot of people saw me as a really – hopefully – viable, good option and they voted for me. I don’t know if it was a total surprise but we’d certainly worked hard for it.
Ottawa Centre recorded one of the highest voter turnouts in the whole country – 82 per cent – why do you think that was?
Well, I would like our team to take some credit for it during the course of the campaign; and by that I don’t just mean just during the writ period, but over the past year and a half. We knocked on more than 100,000 doors and so we reached a lot of people. And I think we got a lot of people excited about politics. And certainly people in Ottawa Centre pay more attention and they were pretty motivated to get a new government. But I think we were able to reach out to new voters and, you know, that really made a difference. I think it really made a difference to help me get elected and I think it’s just also really important that people get engaged. And I had said from the start that I was in this to win, but I was also in it to get as many people excited about politics, and talking about politics, and feeling good about politics and I think we achieved that.
In your victory speech on election night, you paid tribute to incumbent MP Paul Dewar as having “big shoes to fill.” Can you explain a bit further what you meant by that?
Paul Dewar was a really great MP who worked really, really hard and I think for a lot of people they felt a bit conflicted because they felt that there were two good choices. I had to make the case to them that I would work as hard, that I was a good option and obviously that we had a great platform. And so I certainly hope to follow in the shoes of Paul Dewar, he was great on international issues, he cared a lot about the community and I plan to work really hard and be a strong voice for Ottawa Centre in the next Parliament.
As a newly-elected MP, what are your top priorities?
Well, certainly representing the interests of the residents of Ottawa Centre, and the good thing is when you knock on doors you hear what people are thinking – the real issues a little bit outside the bubble. I mean, it’s everything from stronger economy and more jobs. There’s a lot of unemployment – especially youth unemployment – so that’s something I’m absolutely committed to. A lot of seniors are struggling, so a part of our platform is to support lower income seniors. Obviously respect for the public service is something critical, we have a lot of public servants in this riding and in our party, and myself personally, we’re very committed to working in partnership with public servants and restoring the frank and fearless advice part of the mandate. There are other issues like the memorial to victims of communism. There’s certainly a lot of controversy around that and I think we need to revisit it and look at a new location, and also better understand what happened in the process. I’ve talked about the need for more and better affordable houses so I’ll certainly be working with the city, the province and local community groups in that area. I mean, I have a full agenda so what’s exciting is during the campaign I made announcements that were based on feedback that I had heard. So I’m really looking forward to working hard to make sure that I’m able to deliver on all of those.
What do you think is the biggest challenge that the new government faces?
It’s about the challenge and opportunity. I’ve talked about the public service, I think that a lot of public servants were really demoralized and I think it’s one, about having a very different tone – this idea that we’re working together to deliver services to Canadians, to have good policy that’s for Canadians and so we need to make the case to the public service that that’s what we want to do, that we want to be true partners. I think it’s a real opportunity because I’ve met a lot of great public servants and they want to be able to do their jobs to the best of their ability. So, that’s the plan that we are going to work with them to do that.
How would you feel if you were chosen to be a part of Trudeau’s cabinet?
(Laughs) I’ve heard this question before. I’m working hard to represent the people of Ottawa Centre. I’m obviously happy to serve the prime minister in any capacity, but my focus is right now, first of all getting my BlackBerrys and getting my office set up (Laughs), but looking at how we can advance the agenda here in Ottawa Centre.