Georgina · East Gwillimbury · King  .
 
Bradford West Gwillimbury · Innisfil  .

It is a pleasure to be able to resume a weekly column in which I have an opportunity to let you know what I am doing as your voice in Ottawa.  I was pleased to do so for three years in the Innisfil Enterprise, until it ceased publication, and, after a pause, delighted to resume now in the Scope.

When I started, it was suggested to me by the late Enterprise publisher Carol McPherson that I avoid standard “party propaganda,” weekly columns produced by Party communications services for use by their Members. Carol, a former Queen’s Park NDP staffer, was familiar with that approach, and thought it uninteresting and overly partisan. I took her suggestion, and instead chose to make my column more “personal” – explaining to readers exactly what it is that I do in the job. Most people have only a vague idea what a Member of Parliament does, which is understandable. This column is an opportunity to give you a window into that world.

This past Monday (when I wrote this piece) is a good place to start. Mondays are always busy for me. Having been up until 2:30 in the morning working on plans for the week ahead, I arrived in the office at 8:00 a.m. My Director of Parliamentary Affairs has been in since 6 a.m.; she has a stack of news articles for me to review. As the Party’s Question Period co-ordinator, I must be familiar with all breaking issues affecting the government.

I also took time to review the rules of procedure of the House of Commons to answer some questions regarding the debate process for upcoming debate items.

At 9:15 a.m., I had a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss and develop our strategy and tactics for the week ahead.

At 10:00 a.m. I chaired a meeting of about 20 people – key political staff from my office, the Whip’s office, the Senate, and the Prime Minister’s Office, and key parliamentarians – to discuss all the minutiae of legislation and proceedings for the week ahead.

The meeting was followed by a shorter meeting with both my Procedural Advisor and Director of Parliamentary Affairs so that I could understand all the nuances of the upcoming budget debate and the votes (any one of which could cause an election).

After reviewing draft letters, I proceeded to a Board of Internal Economy meeting. This top secret committee on which I sit, is the place, chaired by the Speaker, where representatives of each Party meet to determine how the House of Commons operates – deciding questions like MP’s budgets, computer services, security and labour negotiations with Hill employees.

This meeting was followed by my own Question Period preparation. Then at 1 p.m., I chaired a meeting of Cabinet to prepare for Question period – trying to anticipate what questions we would face, and try out our answers.

From 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., the main theatre of the day is Question Period. I sit behind the Prime Minister and quarterback our response – directing which Minister should take each question, and answering some of the questions that fall under my realm – including those that do not fall into any realm.

After Question Period, I have another meeting with the Prime Minister, along with the Whip and Caucus Chair, to plan for our Caucus meeting coming up on Wednesday.

From there I headed into a meeting of the Operations Committee of Cabinet, for which I am Vice Chair , and made a presentation. This is the Cabinet Committee that is responsible for day-to-day government business and managing political issues.

That meeting wrapped up around 6:30 p.m., I proceeded to an evening meeting of Ontario Caucus, in which all Ontario Conservative Members of Parliament meet to discuss issues of importance to our province. Ontario Caucus is the largest provincial caucus in the Government.

When that meeting wound down, I returned to my office to deal with preparations for the rest of the week, correspondence, speaking notes, and more – all the while keeping an eye on the television news so I know what the issues are.

I finish off typically around midnight or 1 a.m. – dreading that 7 a.m. alarm that will mark the start of the next similar day.

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