{"id":68244,"date":"2016-01-03T20:14:06","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T01:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=68244"},"modified":"2016-01-03T20:17:02","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T01:17:02","slug":"the-spoleto-festival-usa-is-preparing-for-its-40th-season-and-charleston-the-city-it-calls-home-is-the-focus-of-a-number-of-productions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/01\/03\/the-spoleto-festival-usa-is-preparing-for-its-40th-season-and-charleston-the-city-it-calls-home-is-the-focus-of-a-number-of-productions\/","title":{"rendered":"Seamus O’Regan checks into wellness program seeking ‘alcohol free lifestyle’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Seamus<\/a>
Seamus ORegan
(Twitter<\/a> photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA\u2014Newly elected Liberal MP and former broadcast journalist Seamus O’Regan says he has entered a wellness program to adopt “an alcohol free lifestyle.”<\/p>\n

O’Regan, who hosted CTV’s Canada AM for nearly a decade, announced from his Twitter account on Sunday that he had checked into the program over the holiday break.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve decided after consultation with family that I can be most effective as a Member of Parliament by adopting an alcohol free lifestyle,\u201d O’Regan tweeted. \u201cTo that end, over the holiday break, I have entered a wellness program.\u201d<\/p>\n

O’Regan added that he will return to his duties as a MP for St. John’s South-Mount Pearl before Parliament resumes later this month.<\/p>\n

He also noted that he’d have \u201cmore to say\u201d on the matter in the future, but asked for privacy until then.<\/p>\n

O’Regan’s husband expressed his support shortly after the announcement was made online.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo proud of my husband,\u201d Steve Doussis said on Twitter.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not comment on the matter on Sunday.<\/p>\n

But many others expressed their encouragement for O’Regan on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cVERY proud of my good friend @SeamusORegan<\/a> for getting the help he needs,” tweeted Olympian and mental health advocate Clara Hughes. \u201cI look forward to welcoming him back after treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHugs and strength to you,\u201d added O’Regan’s former Canada AM co-host Beverly Thomson.<\/p>\n

O’Regan, originally from St. John’s, was elected in October as part of the Liberals’ sweep of the Atlantic provinces.<\/p>\n

Prior to his career in journalism, he was a senior policy adviser to then Newfoundland premier Brian Tobin.<\/p>\n

O’Regan was also an ambassador for Bell Let’s Talk, a campaign aimed at removing the stigma of mental illness.<\/p>\n

He has also served as executive vice-president for communications at the Stronach Group, a racetrack operator, and a media innovator in residence at Toronto’s Ryerson University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA\u2014Newly elected Liberal MP and former broadcast journalist Seamus O’Regan says he has entered a wellness program to adopt “an …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":68245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-68244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-original","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}