A rookie NDP cabinet minister’s son is fighting for his life in a New Brunswick hospital after he was involved in a car crash Saturday night.
Ramona Jennex pulled perhaps the biggest election night upset on June 9 when she defeated Progressive Conservative veteran Mark Parent in the riding of Kings South. Last Friday, the good news continued as she was named Minister of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations by new premier Darrell Dexter.
But a little more than 24 hours later Jennex’s son, 21-year-old Fraser Williams, was driving on Northside Drive in Minto, N.B. with two others when the car he was behind the wheel of crashed, throwing Williams from the vehicle.
A New Brunswick RCMP release said the three men were transported to Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, with Jennex subsequently taken to Saint John Regional Hospital for treatment of what’s been reported as a head trauma injury.
“It’s not yet clear whether he will recover from the injuries,” said NDP communications director Shawn Fuller yesterday. “He’s gravely injured.”
Jennex is in Saint John with her son. Deputy Premier Frank Corbett will take over her cabinet duties in the interim.
“As you can imagine with these kinds of circumstances, they are almost minute by minute,” Dexter said yesterday following his government’s first cabinet meeting. “From our perspective we’re doing everything we can to support her and make sure she knows we’re all thinking about her and her family.”
Jennex, a longtime schoolteacher, has four adult children and one grandchild.
