Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O’Regan to open CNA2020

Seamus O’Regan, the recently appointed minister of natural resources, will be the opening guest speaker for CNA2020 on Thursday, February 27.

In 1999, Maclean’s magazine named O’Regan, then 28, as one of the 100 Young Canadians to Watch. He is best known for his 10 years as co-host of CTV’s Canada AM. In 2007, he became the first journalist to be named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. He also has two Gemini nominations.

O’Regan was first elected as the member of parliament for his home riding of St. John’s South—Mount Pearl in 2015. During his first term, he served as minister of Veteran Affairs, associate minister of National Defence, vice-chair of the Reconciliation Cabinet Committee and minister of Indigenous Services. After being re-elected in October, he was named minister of Natural Resources in November.

In his December mandate letter to the Minister of Nature Resources, the Prime Minister stated that O’Regan’s work would ensure that the natural resources and energy sectors would remain sources of good, middle-class jobs across the country.

“Building on the work completed in the Government’s first term, work with partners to implement, as appropriate, the recommendations of the Generation Energy Council Report [Canada’s Energy Transition: Getting to Our Energy Future, Together], including wasting less energy, switching to clean power, using more renewable fuels, and producing cleaner oil and gas, including in the offshore,” the mandate letter states.

The Prime Minister also instructed O’Regan to “[w]ork with the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities and the Minister of Indigenous Services to support the transition of Indigenous communities from reliance on diesel-fueled power to clean, renewable and reliable energy by 2030.”

Find the complete schedule at https://cna.ca/cna2020/program/.

To register for the conference, visit https://cna.ca/cna2020/registration/.