THUNDER BAY -- First-time Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré has been elected to lead the Northern Caucus within the new federal Liberal government.
The caucus held its first weekly meeting on Tuesday to share aspirations and discuss how Northern Ontario can speak to its colleagues with a united voice.
“Mark seems like a really energetic fellow that I think will do us well in terms of a chair,” said Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu.
“Of course, his role will be that we have a good agenda, that we stick to the agenda and that everyone gets a chance to participate.”
Hajdu had the opportunity to speak on broad issues impacting her riding but said the highlight was learning about issues impacting other ridings.
In particular, she had the chance to learn about challenges and opportunities the steel industry is experiencing in Algoma and how next year’s promised stimulus spending might impact its potential.
“We had a roundtable today to talk about what kinds of issues are emerging in each of our areas and how they intersect with each other. Of course, we have a lot of commonalities and a few distinct issues from each riding that are maybe are specific,” she said.
“I think as we move forward, finding out about each other’s ridings and those specific issues that are affecting each others’ riding that have some interplay with our own issues will be really important.”
