Jeanelle’s Summer in Dominic LeBlanc’s Office

It’s a well-known fact that I absolutely adore the cafeteria on the 5th floor of Centre Block; I fell in love with its $4.05 French toast breakfast special last summer. As a result of this dangerous relationship with icing sugar and maple syrup, I’ve started taking the stairs up to my office (which is conveniently located right next to said cafeteria). Although the flights of stairs began as a strategy to offset all of the breakfast goodness, the exercise resulted in early morning moments of reflection, some interesting encounters, and these final thoughts on an incredible summer.

The transition into summer recess certainly led to a much calmer work environment; however, as Mrs. Harper noted during a lovely chat over tea at 24 Sussex Drive yesterday, “they’re not on vacation!” While our MPs have been back in their ridings for the last few weeks, there’s still a lot of work to be done. I’ve been working with Sébastien on some constituent outreach projects and surveys; I really enjoy reading comments from constituents who have taken the time to fill out the sections where we ask them to tell us more about their ideas for their communities and the issues that matter most to them. I’ve also been doing some ongoing work regarding the question of privilege I mentioned earlier in the summer, as well as reading about and summarizing Bill C-21, which is an Act to amend the Canada Elections Act, particularly regarding accountability with respect to political loans.

The first half of the summer was a whirlwind of daily meetings and encounters with MPs, Senators and visitors from the riding. However, over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the chance to get to know more people working behind the scenes, including staffers, chefs at the cafeteria, constables, librarians, and everyone working hard to keep the building at its best. As I met and learned more about all of these people dedicated to doing their jobs well and with pride, I decided that one of the most important takeaways of the summer is this: to build and nurture genuine and positive relationships with those who cross your path. These happen anywhere and everywhere – from the cafeteria, to the stairways taken to compensate for the cafeteria, Tactics meetings, Question Period prep, summer barbecues, Atlantic Assistants’ meetings, chatting with visiting school groups, to dinners with insightful and talented journalists. I’ve learned to forge these relationships based on interest and sincerity, and not as a means to an end; in other words, don’t seek people out because you need a favour, or because you’ll need one in the future. Seek them out and engage because you’re interested and because you’ll genuinely learn fascinating things about them, and often, about yourself. Furthermore, the chance to get to know people across party lines has emphasized the fact that, for all of our differences in opinion on how best to get things done, the end objective remains the same: to serve Canadians.

I’ve learned so much over the past couple of months, and I am incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity. I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to the internship organizing committee, as well as to Mr. LeBlanc, Sébastien Belliveau and all of my colleagues. Finally, a huge thanks to Pat and Julia for being a great team to share the experience with!

Meet our 2013 Interns and MPs

First Update from Pat Joyce on his time with Nathan Cullen

It started with a whirlwind. My journey from Sackville, a town of five thousand, to the (relatively speaking) big city was nothing if not the beginning of one incredible, hectic, once-in-a-lifetime journey. I left on a Monday and, foolishly, had agreed to start work on Wednesday. Suffice it to say that things were a bit overwhelming for the first week or so.

I started working for Nathan Cullen, MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley in northwestern British Columbia and House Leader for the Official Opposition and soon discovered the sheer volume of work that takes place behind the scenes in Ottawa. Having spent the past five years as a big fish in a very small pond in New Brunswick, the opportunity to become a part of such a dedicated, hardworking group of people on the Hill has been truly humbling.

Most inspiringly, the opportunity to intern in Nathan’s office has so clearly disproven the fallacy of disengagement that seems to get perpetuated among young people. All too often as a twenty-something and a student politician, I would hear from my peers about how politicians are all the same and nothing ever changes. But when I open my inbox each day and witness hundreds of emails from constituents from Skeena-Bulkley Valley thanking Nathan for helping them with a local issue, commending him for his work in the House of Commons, or sharing their opinion through an email or a petition, I get to truly see politics in action. It continues to astound me that Nathan can put in all the hours he does here in Ottawa, regularly travel back to his riding, continue to travel from community to community while there, and seemingly never run out of energy.

Not only is Nathan somewhat of an endurance machine, he is truly a visionary leader. He speaks with passion on every issue and commits himself wholly to improving his community and country. I’ve had the pleasure to work on his project to improve decorum in the House of Commons, assist with communications with his constituents, research and provide briefs on local and national issues, and take on a diversity of projects all the time – truly, no two days are the same. The amount of learning I’ve been able to do is astounding: from House procedure and Question Period preparation to local resource development and First Nations issues, the role offers exposure to a breadth of opportunities to learn about our diverse country and its people.

Likely the greatest appreciation I’ve gained is for the unsung heroes of Canada’s political arena: the political staffers. These people work tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure our representatives can perform to the best of their ability in order to do the work they need to improve the lives of Canadians. While they may go unseen, every bill before the House and every question in Question Period is the result of hours of research and vetting by party and Hill staff. Their dedication to their parties and to Canada as a whole is worthy of so much appreciation; they truly, if you’ll forgive the geographically and astronomically incorrect analogy, make this country go round.

As I enter the latter half of the summer, I know that the skills I’ve gained or honed in this role – community outreach, research, political communications, and the list goes on – will help me in any future endeavors. While I will soon be carrying these skills and the knowledge I’ve gained to a new chapter in my journey, I am glad that I still have two months to look forward to in this exciting, dynamic, and (relatively speaking) much larger pond.

Julia Deutsch’s experience with Michelle Rempel

There is a small island off the coast of Nova Scotia that boasts a population of 5 humans, 340 species of birds, 50 000 grey seals and over 400 feral horses. A plethora of shipwrecks in recent history has earned Sable Island the title of “graveyard of the Atlantic”. The area’s geography puts it at the mercy of extreme weather– though one would never know it to look at present-day photographs of the crescent-shaped, 34 km2 land mass that became Canada’s 43rd National Park on June 19th, 2013. An urban legend recounts that long ago, the ancestors of the horses inhabiting the island today swam to shore as the ships on which they travelled sank to the bottom of the ocean. Tragic as this scene surely must have been, there is an odd poetic justice to the rejuvenation of life in the wake of disaster. Today, the feral horses of Sable Island are both a point of inquiry for scientists and a point of national pride for Canadians. The story of their arrival is thus, as much a testament to the wrath of nature as it is a reminder of the adaptability of its equilibrium. Both of these themes have featured in the first month of my experience as a Jaimie Anderson Intern working in the office of Michelle Rempel.

From Sable to Stampede: Michelle Rempel is the Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre-North, as well as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of the Environment. That means that in addition to representing her constituency in the House of Commons, she is charged with the responsibility of developing and evaluating environmental policy initiatives. The environment dossier, by virtue of its content, requires a substantial amount of collaboration with all stakeholders involved in whatever is proposed. A national park, for example, cannot be implemented without considering the long-term wellbeing of affected communities. Legislation is built with the aim of reaching a pareto optimum, something that requires consideration of multiple viewpoints. Bill S-15, which bestowed upon Sable Island the title of “national park reserve”, is just one example of incredible multi-party collaboration in the House of Commons. Debate and discussion in the House turned on questions of interpretive nuances in specific clauses and how ambiguities in phrasing might be perceived on the ground. In the end, the vast majority of the House voted in favour of the bill – a testament to weeks of dialogue on both sides of the floor. It was a privilege to have indirectly assisted with and borne witness to the creation of this law because the means truly reflected an end that sought to preserve and protect the island in the most effective way possible.

Finding the boundary where benevolence meets effectiveness is perhaps doubly important in times of crisis. Even in the midst of disaster, I have come to appreciate the coordination of relief efforts between municipal, provincial and federal levels of government. Last week, the Province of Alberta sustained one of the worst floods in its history. The storm’s wrath has claimed four lives and as evacuations peaked record highs, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. Many would return to find their possessions badly damaged upon their return; thus far, billions of dollars of worth of property have been destroyed and the final numbers have yet to be tallied. The heart-wrenching reality of the situation is that recovery cannot take place without a substantial rebuilding effort and the 101st Calgary Stampede is next week! Daunting as this task may seem, as I have learned, Albertans truly live by their slogan: “freedom to create; spirit to achieve”. The Stampede promises to go on as scheduled and judging from the throngs of volunteers that have come forward, there is no shortage of creative spirit to deliver on this promise.

In light of recent events, Stampede celebrations now deeply reflect the triumph of ingenuity over adversity. Many events have been turned into fundraisers for victims of the floods and in the weeks that follow, much of my work shall be focused on reaching out to the constituency and gauging their needs at this critical time. My current project involves facilitating communication between events benefiting victims of the floods and volunteers wanting to take part in these efforts. Even in the wake of disaster, I believe that Stampede 101 will continue to be the “greatest outdoor show on earth.” Giddy up.

Jeanelle Dundas talks about her start in Dominic LeBlanc’s office

Goethe said, “A great person attracts great people, and knows how to hold them together.” I read this in a book that I was perusing (read: skimming) in the weeks before my convocation, one that someone (read: Mom) had left on my nightstand. It was full of quotes that mildly united ideas of leadership, responsibility and other buzzwords meant to gently acknowledge the overarching theme of impending adulthood. While I was entirely on board with graduating and all of the celebration(s) that this would entail, I wasn’t quite ready to consider the adultness that I was sure would hit me immediately upon receiving my diploma. I pictured the moment as such:

June 10th, 2013, 3:00pm: Jeanelle Dundas, fun-loving, young, undergraduate student June 10th, 2013, 3:01pm: Jeanelle Dundas, serious adult *laden* with responsibilities

While I gladly left the book behind as I navigated my first few weeks on the Hill working for the office of the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, that quote in particular remained top-of-mind. I soon realized that this was because over the past month, as is often the case, I’ve learned a lot more about leadership, responsibility and great people working together from Mr. LeBlanc and his colleagues than I could have read about in a book. I’ve always been of the opinion that the best way to learn about politics is to dive in and get involved; so far, this internship has been an amazing way to do so. Mr. LeBlanc represents the riding of Beauséjour in New Brunswick and is the Liberal House Leader. As a result, the work I’ve done has been split between learning about issues concerning his riding and learning about his role as House Leader, including his work with the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. He graciously extended a standing invitation to daily meetings including Tactics and QP prep, both of which have provided incredible insight on caucus management and the process by which MPs contribute to an ongoing discussion about how best to serve their constituents across the country. These meetings also gave me the chance to become acquainted with the contents of numerous bills making their way through Parliament (and the hard-work of those keeping track of them in incredible detail!) in addition to being aware of  daily committees, and learning about various communications and media considerations. There’s been a lot of transition within the Party over the past few months, from welcoming a new Leader, to welcoming a new MP and to, just last week, saying goodbye to a remarkable Parliamentarian; I feel incredibly grateful to learn firsthand about dealing with said transition, and to witness the remarkable energy with which the people I work with approach new situations. On my first day, Sébastien briefed me on the day-to-day happenings in the office; I noticed (and loved) that this conversation was set to a great jazz playlist, which, I learned, was to “start the week off right, because things usually get a little hectic.” So far, I’ve found that it’s hectic in the best way possible, as there’s always something new to engage in. I’ve enjoyed doing research for letters from constituents regarding a range of issues, including concerns about access to health care facilities in rural areas, proposals for restructuring existing disability benefits for those living with Multiple Sclerosis and other episodic illnesses, and questions about funding for the Experimental Lakes Area research facility, among others.

I’ve also been interested in some work surrounding a Question of Privilege and subsequent motion concerning the alleged violation of certain provisions of the Canada Elections Act. In light of Speaker Scheer’s recent ruling on the matter, I’m looking forward to doing some more research on House of Commons procedure over the coming weeks. On a side note, I’ve had the opportunity to put my summer guiding skills to good use! I’ve been more than happy to help welcome some of Mr. LeBlanc’s guests, from various school groups from the riding to CBC’s Ian Hanomansing and his family, and to answer their questions about Parliament. I’ve always been proud of the fact that, even when our institutions seem plagued with difficult questions concerning reform and improving transparency, they remain remarkably accessible to fellow Canadians and visitors from around the world.

All in all, it’s been an exciting start to a summer filled with some pretty unique experiences (including a great afternoon touring the CBC studio, and an equally interesting morning over at CTV’s Question Period!) – I’m looking forward to the months ahead, and continuing to share them with Pat and Julia.