OTTAWA – As Canada’s federal politicians prepare to return to work in Ottawa next week, a new report suggests their predecessors feel their biggest accomplishments were achieved outside the House of Commons.
Former politicians list working alone or in small groups to create local change or helping individual constituents as their career highlights in interviews with researchers at Samara Canada, an organization that studies public engagement.
While celebrating the local responsiveness of Members of Parliament, the authors of the report say the interviews are symptomatic of a system that makes politicians feel like “outsiders.”
“They went out of their way to say the politics you see on TV is not me, but that begs the question: who does take responsibility for the political system if the MPs are saying all the real good work happens outside of it?,” says Alison Loat, executive director of Samara.
The report – based on the first exit interview ever done with federal politicians – is the final installation in a four-part study about political leadership in Canada.
In sum, the study found that politicians talked about themselves as outsiders in Ottawa and were critical of politics. MPs talked about being unlikely politicians, never planning for a career in public life. They tried to distance themselves from the partisan games on display during Question Period and said their “real work” was away from Parliament Hill.
One MPs recalled helping victims of crime. Another cherished working with a Grand Chief of a First Nations Grand Council on the residential schools apology. Helping an African refugee bring his family to Canada was another success highlighted by the former MPs.
The report suggests politicians worked outside of traditional political system – defined by parties, committees and partisanship – because they, like many citizens, found it frustrating.
Still, the report found politicians rarely took ownership for the problems they identified with the system – including partisanship, unruly Question Periods, and irregular engagement with citizens. Nor did they try to change them when they were in a position to do so.
“There is a stage at which the Member of Parliament is no longer an outsider,” Loat says. “They are sitting in the corridors of power. They do have a lot of influence and a lot of opportunities to influence policy.”
When asked about what needed to be changed, the 65 MPs that were interviewed focused on practical solutions instead of dramatic reform.
E-voting, more power for committees and question periods based on substance, not showmanship were all suggestion made by MPs.
MPs also suggested that new parliamentarians receive better orientation and training.
“Rookie MPs are, for all intents and purposes, abandoned the day after they’re elected,” one MP told the researchers.
Politicians also wanted to do more to get Canadians excited about the country and its future, suggesting strong civics education and more consistent communication with citizens.
Most commonly, according to the report, the former MPs tell new parliamentarians to stay true to their identities, values and beliefs.
“Don’t get caught up in the Ottawa bubble, in the partisanship and the rhetoric,” says one MP in the report.
Still, Loat says she hopes that politicians start to reform Ottawa instead of avoiding it.
“Embrace the importance of public leadership,” Loat says. “If MPs, who I think most Canadians would think are consummate insiders, if they continue to describe themselves as outsiders, I couldn’t help but wonder what a citizens who is truly an outsider must feel.”
Read the full report here: www.samaracanada.com/overview_tom
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