During a visit to Kingston on Tuesday, Liberal MPP Kathleen Wynne (Artsci’76), the only woman ever to have served as the Premier of Ontario, dropped by Queen’s Law. There, she talked politics and leadership with students.
For young women wanting to start a political career, she emphasized the importance of teamwork in running for office. “You need to be able to bring together people who know what you stand for and who are going to work with you doing all the things that need to be done,” she advised.
“Listen to the naysayers, but don’t take it all to heart,” she continued. “Be willing to take a risk and find people who will mentor you and be your champion.”
She encouraged young women to take a chance on being able to help individuals in their constituency offices. “What we know is that once women get their name on the ballot, if they’re in a winnable riding, they have as much chance at winning as men do,” she said. “But it’s from the point where you think about it to going through a nomination process to actually getting your name on the ballot that is the challenging part for women.”
A student asked Wynne about collaborative policy making. “Within my caucus and cabinet, I tried to create an environment where people would say their piece and then we would have very lively discussions about policy,” she said. “That reinforced for me the importance that as local MPPs, we all bring our constituencies to the table. We need to hear our constituents and we need to develop policy based on the evidence, based on what we hear from our constituents, and then based on our own lived experience.”
Expressing optimism for today’s university students, she said, “Your generation has a whole different life experience than baby boomers and the generation after us. You understand technology differently. You understand the working world differently. You have different social relationships. You will change the way society works.”
Following the Q & A session, Wynne toured the Lederman Law Library and Learning Commons in the Queen’s Law building and stopped to chat with students along the way.
Wynne was in Kingston to raise awareness and get stakeholder feedback for a private member’s bill she will be tabling at Queen’s Park next month. Expanding on a bill regarding fetal alcohol spectrum disorder previously put forward in 2018 by then-Kingston and the Islands MPP Sophie Kiwala, the new bill calls for amendment to the Early Childhood Educators Act and the Ontario College of Teachers Act.
By Lisa Graham