Kyle Seeback: Championship Swimmer Prepares for New Kind of Race

Meet the Players

The Third in a Series of Interviews with Political Strategists and Candidates

From an early age, Kyle Seeback has been successful–often at the very highest levels–in everything he has done.

He was a world-class swimmer on the Canadian national team. He then took his international medals to the University of Nebraska, where he was a star swimmer on one of best athletic programs in the NCAA.

Seeback later returned to Canada, entering law school, where he excelled academically while nonetheless playing and coaching for a varsity team in the CIS.

Then as a successful lawyer, Seeback served as president of the Brampton West federal riding association for almost a decade, helping candidates win local, provincial and federal elections.

Today Seeback, still an avid swimmer, is preparing for a new kind of race: running for Member of Parliament as the Conservative Party candidate in Brampton West.

Running for office is not entirely knew to him, though. He ran in the 2008 federal election against Andrew Kania, coming within a hair’s breadth–literally 232 votes–of winning the race. But now, says Seeback, the outcome will be different.

Whether or not Seeback will win is hard to say, particularly given that he is squaring off against an incumbent Liberal Member of Parliament in a riding that has been a Liberal stronghold since 1993.

But if Seeback’s record of athletic, academic and professional success has taught us anything, it is to never bet against him.

In this third installment of our continuing Meet the Players series of interviews with political strategists and candidates, Kyle Seeback takes a moment to field questions about his past, present and future.

Richard Albert (RA): You’re preparing to run for a second time in the riding of Brampton West. Last time, in the 2008 federal election, you came within fewer than 235 votes of winning the race against then-candidate, and now incumbent MP, Andrew Kania of the Liberal Party. What do you need to do differently this time in order to win?

Kyle Seeback (KS): I am sure that you don’t actually want me to tell what I will do differently. Given the size of your readership, any real plans I disclose would likely get back to Andrew Kania within minutes. What I can tell you, though, is that we will work harder than last time. The team will be bigger and more experienced. We have worked very hard at the grassroots level between the last election and now, and it will have an impact in the next election.

RA: Can you say something nice about your Liberal opponent, Andrew Kania?

KS: Andrew Kania is a dedicated and hardworking public servant. I can say that as I know Andrew personally. He is a little misguided, but so is virtually every Liberal. (I had to take a least one partisan shot in this interview, didn’t I?) Was that nice enough?

RA: Absolutely. Very gracious, just as I had expected given your reputation as an honourable person. So, moving on, the next election could be held as soon as October. What are the most pressing needs and priorities for Brampton West?

KS: There are so many pressing needs in Brampton and Brampton West that I could spend all my time dealing with this question alone. To keep things short, I think I will list three in no specific order.

First, we need a youth violence strategy. Youth violence continues to go up year after year in Brampton. We must develop a local strategy to deal with this, including more services for young people to keep them away from crime, namely programs for mentoring, drug and addiction, tutoring and educational assistance. All of these programs could be started and funded with some strong local leadership.

Second, health care. We need the Brampton Civic Hospital up and running at full capacity. We have one of the lowest ratios of population-to-hospital-beds in the country, and it is affecting people’s health.

Three, poverty and settlement services. We have one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in Canada and we need to make sure that new Canadians are able to access services that are going to allow them to obtain jobs and to overcome the economic hardships that many newcomers face.

RA: Despite the critical importance of local issues, federal elections often hinge on the performance and perception of party leaders. Why, in your view, is Stephen Harper a better leader for Canada than Michael Ignatieff?

KS: Stephen Harper is an average Canadian. He was raised in a middle class family like the vast majority of Canadians. He understands the issues that are important to Canadians because he has lived through the same issues that all of us face, like getting a job, raising a family and paying a mortgage.

I think that political leaders should personally understand the challenges that face average Canadians. Stephen Harper understands this perfectly insofar as he has lived through it personally.

Stephen Harper is also a person who does what he thinks is right, not necessarily what is politically popular. He governs on principle, not polls. That, to me, is a critical function of leadership.

RA: What is your biggest personal strength?

KS: Dedication and compassion. First, dediction–hard work and pursuing your goals and dreams–is the key to success in all aspects of life. Second, compassion and empathy for others are the fundamental building blocks to being able to properly represent people and their interests.  Being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes is critical to understanding, and responding to, their concerns.

RA: What is your biggest weakness and how, if at all, have you tried to turn it into one of your strengths?

KS: Like many people, procrastination is my biggest weakness. Not sure how I can turn that into a strength. Do you think it is easy to make priorities? Bad joke, I know, but worth a try.

RA: If you get elected to Parliament, who is the first person whose counsel you will seek once you land in Ottawa?

KS: I would seek his counsel before I ever left for Ottawa. It would be my father. No person could ask for a better role model or person to go to for guidance.

RA: With a family–a wife and two very young children–it must be difficult spending so much time away from home in order to mount your campaign. I suspect you will be away from home for even longer stretches of time if you end up winning your race. How have you and your family dealt with that?

KS: It’s really hard. There is nothing I love more than spending time with my family. Nothing comes before my family, neither work nor politics. I am a very hands-on father and I miss my children terribly when I am away from them. I honestly don’t know how I will deal with being away from them five days a week, six months a year.

RA: Apart from working to improve the lives of your constituents in Brampton West, are there any larger or national legislative projects you would like to explore if you get elected?

KS: Health care. My mother passed away in January after a year-long battle with cancer. I saw first-hand how stretched our health care system really is. Don’t take this the wrong way, because throughout that difficult time I saw and met so many wonderful and dedicated doctors and nurses. That is not where the problem lies. What I witnessed, though, was how overworked they were and how stressed the system is. It must get fixed because healthcare is one of the things that Canadians hold dearly and are so proud of–and rightfully so.

RA: Let’s turn to some of your personal interests. While in law school at the University of Western Ontario, you coached the university waterpolo team. Were you really that bored with law school that you had to resort to waterpolo to pass the time?

KS: Yes, law school was extremely boring. How else can you describe having to read thousand of pages of legal cases day-in, day-out?!

Seriously though, I needed an outlet from law school. I had played waterpolo for a year for the University of Western Ontario during my first year of law school and it was a ton of fun. The coach retired and the university asked me if I would consider taking over. It was a great experience and, if I had stayed in London to practice law, I would have continued to do it. Mentoring and coaching young people is such a valuable and rewarding way to spend your spare time.

RA: So you’re a lawyer now. Great. I’m sure you’ve heard hundreds of lawyer jokes. Do you have a favourite one?

A man is standing in line at the bank. It is a long line and suddenly he feels his shoulders and back being massaged by the person behind him. He turns around and asks the person what he is doing. The person says, “my job is a massage therapist and I was just trying to help you out.” The lawyer says, “yeah so what, I’m a lawyer and you don’t see me trying to screw the person in front of me, do you?”

RA: Before jumping into politics, you were a scholarship swimmer at the University of Nebraska, a star member of the Canadian national swimming team, and ranked among the top 16 swimmers in the world. Wow. What have you learned from competitive swimming, if anything, that will help you win your riding and become a good public servant?

KS: Swimming was all about hard work. It is one of a few sports that is all about working hard day-in, day-out for hours and hours every day. Swimming taught me that the only way to be successful is to work harder than the other person. I think that my work ethic will be enormously beneficial to my constituents if I am privileged enough to get elected.

RA: Now for my favourite question: Which three departed Canadians would you most like to host for dinner at Aggie Martin, one of Brampton’s finest restaurants? Why?

KS:

1. Sir John A. MacDonald. What can I say? He was the best prime minister in Canadian history and a conservative to boot!

2. Alexander Graham Bell. Inventor of the telephone. Would love to give him my Blackberry and see what he thinks.

3. Billy Bishop. First World War fighter ace. The stories he could tell would be amazing.

RA. Parlez-vous français?

KS: Un petit peu.

RA: Ok, Kyle. Time for the Lightning Round. Blackberry or I-Phone?

KS: Blackberry.

RA: Facebook or MySpace?

KS: Facebook.

RA: Mac or PC?

KS: PC.

RA: Less filling or tastes great?

KS: Tastes great, of course. What’s the point of counting calories when drinking beer?

RA: Boxers or briefs?

KS: Boxer briefs, actually.

RA: Favourite band?

KS: Tough one, the Beatles when I was younger but now I don’t really have a favourite. I listen to all kinds of music now: Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, Third Eye Blind, Van Morrison, Eminem, Shania Twain. You name it, I like it.

RA: Sid the Kid or Super Mario?

KS: Neither. Gretzky all the way. 92 goals in one season, 215 points in one season. These days 50 goals is rare, and 100 points is a big deal.

RA: Who was the better Ontario Premier: Bill Davis or Mike Harris?

KS: Are you kidding? I live in Brampton just up the street from Premier Davis. Granted, he’s 80 years old. But don’t let that fool you. If I had chosen otherwise, he could still walk up the street and kick my… .

RA: Greatest Canadian?

KS: Without a doubt, Sir John A. MacDonald. Without him, there would be no Canada or certainly not the one we have today.

RA: Final Question, Kyle. Greatest politician never to become prime minister?

KS: Preston Manning. What a great person with such a great mind. He had it all.

RA: Kyle, thanks so much. I hope you had as much fun answering these question as I had interviewing you. A tough race awaits, so I won’t keep you any longer. Go hit that pavement. Very best of luck.

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Meet the Players: Interviews with Political Strategists and Candidates

• Warren Kinsella, August 17, 2009
• Tim Powers, August 20, 2009