2021-09-29

Ousted incumbent reflects on loss

by KEVIN MCBAIN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Bernadette Jordan fell short of a third-straight federal election victory in South Shore-St. Margaret's and the departing Liberal MP and Fisheries and Oceans Canada minister figures how people viewed her handling of the cabinet portfolio played a key role in her defeat.

The outcome of the September 20 federal election put Conservative candidate Rick Perkins in the winner's column, roughly 2,000 votes ahead of the incumbent Jordan, who was first elected in 2015 and returned to parliament in 2019.

"We did the absolute best we could. We knocked on thousands of doors and talked to a lot of people. Getting the messaging out," Jordan told LighthouseNOW. "But honestly the big challenge for me was, as a fisheries minister, there were some people that didn't like the decisions I had to make in some cases and I think that was the deciding factor."

Opposition MPs criticized her response and effectiveness when it came to dealing with fisheries-related tension and disputes in the western end of the province.

"It was a very rushed campaign and it was hard from day one," she said. "People were angry in some cases and it was really, really tough. We saw a lot of things in this election that I have never seen before."

Despite the loss and challenging circumstances, Jordan, who was the province's first female federal cabinet minister, said she is proud of her campaign team for their effort. Many of them were still tired from working the provincial election, which briefly overlapped the federal writ.

She said her past five years in office were "the experience of a lifetime" and it's something that she will be grateful "for the opportunity to be the representative of this area."

She felt she had been a part of many great accomplishments during her tenure.

"These are the kind of stories that nobody ever hers about, but we dealt with them every day," Jordan said. "I'm proud of the office staff I had. Sometimes we couldn't get the answers that some people wanted, but we never stopped trying and I think that was something that I'm very proud of."

The election was called by the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau less than two years into the Liberals' second mandate, albeit in the minority government situation. Jordan defended her boss for calling an election at this point, stating that a lot has changed since 2019.

What's next for Jordan is a question under consideration. "I don't know yet. How do you go from 150 miles per hour to zero. I am not ready to go to zero yet, so I don't know," she said.

She is not ready to be fully-retired and said she will take some time to determine next steps.

No pension

Jordan and two other cabinet ministers, Deb Schulte and Maryam Monsef, were voted out just 28 days before their sixth year anniversary, which cost them a chance at a lifetime pension.

If they meet the years-of-service threshold, MPs are entitled to lifetime pensions when they reach the age of 65. The final values are a percentage of their salaries – an entry-level MP earns about $185,800 per year. That base salary goes up when MPs for being cabinet ministers, committee chairs or parliamentary secretaries.

According to published reports, the three former ministers could have pulled in between $71,000 to $74,000 annually based on them earning $274,500 per year but all three are entitled to at least $137,500 in pay.

"I never got into this for the pension. Quite frankly, I never even knew if it had a good pension," said Jordan. "My husband has been a pension fund specialist for the last 26 years until he retired. So this is something we always made a priority."

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