What’s It Like Being A Member of Parliament ?
by Scott A. Sumner
Thunder Bay Business
When you look at the careers we can choose there are many options. To me the most important job for the future of Canada are our Members of Parliament. The Prime Minister has the best job in Canada. The cabinet ministers are next and then the remaining Members of
Parliament. There are 308 MPs in Canada presently and it was my pleasure to spend a day and a half with Ken Boshcoff, MP from Thunder Bay-Rainy River, my riding. When I say spend a day I mean be with Ken for his full activities stating early in the morning and ending up at
close to 10pm after a hectic schedule of house meetings, parliamentary activities like question period, lobbyist events and special receptions and dinners. It was a real eye opener for me and something I will always remember. In fact for a while during this experience you start
to think this would be a great job, being an Member of Parliament in Canada, the greatest country in the world!
My day began on a Monday with a 430am wake up call and Westjet flight leaving at 630am and arriving in Ottawa at 11 am. There was a brief stop in Toronto but soon we will have a direct Air Canada flight to Ottawa. You could also choose a flight with Bearskin. Upon arrival
to the beautiful Ottawa Airport it was off by YOY Transit to my hotel the ARC The.Hotel a boutique property on Slater Street. This was a great property in an ideal location to see Ottawa. After a lunch with Misty Wade Hovey from Ottawa Tourism it was off to began my time with
Ken Boshcoff. I went directly to his office in the Confederation block on Parliament Hill. The first thing you have to do is be scanned just as you are before entering gates at an airport. In fact the scanning process would occur many, many times again as you entered the main
Parliament Building. Here you had to leave any items you might have such as your Blackberry or camera at a check station.
Ken has a great staff in Ottawa consisting of former Northwestern Ontario residents Charla Robinson from Thunder Bay and Doug Judson from Fort Frances. Doug brought me over to meet Ken in the Parliament building and I was ready to sit in the oppositions members gallery to watch the raucous Question Period. It was really quite amazing to see the ebb and flow of MPs asking questions and the loud banter back and forth from the Conservative Government MPs and the Liberal, NDP and Bloc opposition members. In fact it was so loud you needed the ear speaker system to hear the members talk. Also the language was translated if you didn’t speak French.
Immediately after the Question Period Ken was up to get me and it was into the opposition holding room right off the parliament chamber. Here I met many MP's including Stephen Dion, Opposition Leader, and others like Ken Dryden, Bob Rae and Mary Hall Findley. “ I like the
questions I just don’t like the answers” was what Stephen Dion had to tell me about his experience that day in Question Period. It was really quite exciting and my main thought coming out of Question Period was we really have a democracy in Canada. There is a full airing, no holds bar exchange of ideas on the floor. I would attend the next two days of question period including sitting in the government members viewing area arranged by Joe Comuzzi, our Conservative MP who incidently has his office right across the hall from Ken Boshcoff in the Confederation building.
After these events we were off to have dinner in the famed Parliamentary Dining room. You could just sense the history here and we met Senator Day and saw other MPs like NDP Leader Jack Layton there. It was a great meal and ended my first half day on Parliament Hill.
Day 2, a Wednesday, was a full schedule which was very normal according to Ken. Our day began at 8am with the Rural Caucus meeting on Canada Post. It was then to a AGRI Labeling meeting of MPs and agricultural leaders including Kim Jo Bliss from Fort Frances who was
on video conferencing from her home. That was was from 9am to 11am. This meeting was formally run with translation services and a meeting chair etc. Next it was off to a Forestry Report Writing session which I could not attend so I met Ken later for a CEP Luncheon Presentation on Queen Street. Here we had 5 minutes to have lunch. Also during this
time was a photo opportunity for Wear Canada Made Suit Day.
The question period began at 2pm and this day included Prime Minister Stephen Harper who had some very hard questioning on the RCMP raid on the Conservative offices to account for over and over again. After spending some time in the holding area right adjacent to the Parliament Chambers we were off to a reception held by the CTV Network celebrating
their news show 50th Anniversary. Here I was thrilled to meet Lloyd Robertson and Mike Duffy. Our scheduled gym time which was to be next was lost and it was back to meet with two representatives of the RV Dealers Association in Ken’s office.
After a long day we still had four receptions to go to starting with the Intellectual Property Reception where I met Senator Frank Mahovalich, hockey legend as well. A Rural Telecom Reception in the National Press Building was next where we talked to independent
telephone operators in Canada. A formal CTV reception was our third stop that evening at the Metropolitan Restaurant. I really enjoyed meeting Pamela Wallin, Shamus O'Reagan, and Jeff the weatherman from Canada AM. Here there was some spectacular food and I was warned by Ken we still had a forum dinner to attend. After the CTV we were off to the famed Rideau Club for a beautiful reception and diner hosted by the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association. It was great to hear of the importance of auto retailers to our Canadian economy.
It was a fun day and really gave me an insight into the political process including lobbying efforts by several groups and the way legislation comes out starting in committees and progressing though a system. I gained a much better understanding of what our MP does for us in Ottawa. It really is an important job and one I think you have to be a special person to take on. Many thanks to Ken Boshcoff and his staff for allowing me to have this experience. Also thank you to Misty and Ottawa Tourism for their help. It is a time I really enjoyed!
