Could YOU be a Member of Parliament??
Luckily it’s not difficult!!
Professional Requirements for a Member of Parliament:
None! MPs come from all backgrounds. No cooking, baking or
laundry skills required Sense of humour an asset.
Personal qualities:
- Interest in helping run your country, often at odd hours.
Desire to make things better. Common sense.
- Team player, loyal to party.
- Self-esteem and thick skin, i.e. willingness to accept
constructive criticism, and put up with unfair criticism.
- Outgoing personality, good communication skills.
- The capacity to listen, smile, nod, joke if appropriate,
avoid clear commitments and move on quickly.
The job:
An MP influences federal laws and programs through debates
in the House and work on all-party committees. She usually
follows party lines.
MPs can raise policy issues in party caucuses. Opposition
MPs can also influence government policy through questions
in the House.
An MP maintains an office on Parliament Hill, with staff,
and a constituency office, also staffed, where constituents
seek help with a wide variety of problems.
She also plays a role in her political party, and takes part
in local events and official functions as a party animal.
If that sounds a lot, remember what Ottawa mayor
Charlotte Whitton famously said:
“Whatever she does, a woman must do twice as well
as any man to be thought just half as good. Luckily, it’s
not difficult”
Pay:
Can you squeeze by on $141,000 a year, plus allowances and
office expenses, while bringing a modern woman’s perspective
to what has often been called the “male club”
of Parliament?
Essentials for first-time candidates and first-term
MPs:
- Good walking shoes for going door to door.
- Campaign funds (federal spending limits and candidate
and party subsidies help here).
- Friends who campaign.
- A tolerance for frequent travel and rubber chicken.
- A resilient derriere for many meetings..\
- Spouse (or equivalent)—to run the household, pick
up the dry cleaning, and mention your name to offspring.
Assets for the cabinet bound:
*Unswerving loyalty to leader.
*Ability to bone up fast on any of the following:
taxation, national security, international conflict reduction,
justice, family law, child care benefits, unemployment insurance,
electoral reform, public health, fisheries, environmental
protection, immigration, culture and heritage; federal-provincial
relations, Indian affairs, status of women.
*Team-builder
*TenacityYou can do it!. Become part of the 52 per cent solution!
Who to Call:
Liberal Party of Canada
Monique Trottier
Manager, National Women’s Liberal Commission
Tel: 613-783-8412
Cell: 613-327-0967
mtrottier@liberal.ca
NDP
Tara Peel
Tel:1-866-525-2555
email: tpeel@fed.ndp.ca
The Green Party
Katalin Sheskay
Home office 613 748-6985
National Director of Development/Directrice Nationale du Développement
Green Party of Canada/Parti Vert du Canada
PO/CP 997 Station B Ottawa ON K1P 5R1
Ottawa-Gatineau 613-562-4916
Toll-Free/Sans-frais) 1-866-868-3447
Fax: 613-482-4632
katalin@greenparty.ca - katalin@partivert.ca
Katalin@aserty.com
www.partivert.ca - www.greenparty.ca
Conservative Party of Canada
Jenni Byrne
(613) 755-2024
The CPC Headquarters is:
The Varette Building
130 Albert Street, Suite 1720
Ottawa, ON
K1P 5G4
Bloc Quebecois
Helene Alarie
Party Headquarters: 514-526-3000
|
