The Potential Advantages of Being an Ottawa-area MP
written on Monday, May 31, 2010 by Huy Dang
We all know that our elected representatives in Ottawa work hard on your behalf, no matter what party they are associated with.
First of all, Members of Parliament work hard and more than likely have a vested interest in your needs and concerns, as they probably want your vote in the next election.
Well, Canada is split into 308 ridings, and for those MPs who represent ridings far away from Ottawa, their expenses are probably higher than an MP that was elected in the Ottawa area.
But, what if they already lived in Ottawa and represent an Ottawa-area riding? Well, to get started, Ottawa is served by the following seven federal ridings, with Ottawa West-Nepean being my favourite, as it is represented by the Honourable John Baird, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (my favourite cabinet minister):
1. Carleton-Mississippi Mills
2. Nepean-Carleton
3. Ottawa Centre
4. Ottawa-Orléans
5. Ottawa West-Nepean
6. Ottawa South
7. Ottawa-Vanier
Anyway, today, I am writing about the advantages of being an MP in the Ottawa area.
There are many advantages to consider, including proximity, and expenses, and family expenses, and other stuff.
Let's begin...
1. Spending Time at Home
When your elected MP is in Ottawa, they unfortunately can't come home for long periods of time (and their families will miss them dearly), unless Parliament gets prorogued for no apparent reason. So, when they are in Ottawa for business, they must rent out another home, or apartment, or stay at a hotel, costing them money. Meanwhile, MPs that serve in the Ottawa area probably get to spend their evenings in the comfort of their own homes.
So, let's just assume we are living the life of the Honourable John Baird. Every morning, he wakes up, gets to work on Parliament Hill, sits in the House of Commons and eventually prepares himself for question period at 2:15 pm (11:15 am on Fridays) when he is questioned intensively by the Leader of the Opposition, his back-benchers, Jack Layton and/or his backbencher MPs, or their critics.
Mr. Baird is known to regularly yell when answering the demanding questions from MPs and/or critics from the NDP or Liberals.
So, after a long, hard day of answering questions from opposition parties in anger, Mr. Baird is tired, and probably wants to get sleep, and rest. And, the best place to do that is your own home. And of course, Mr. Baird has an advantage. As a life-long resident of the former city and now neighbourhood of Nepean in Ottawa, Mr. Baird has the advantage of simply driving or taking the bus to go home (although OC Transpo seems to be lame).
Now, let's just pretend you are the Honourable Jason Kenney, the Minister of Immigration, who is also the MP for Calgary Southeast. Well, Mr. Kenney may work in Ottawa, but he lives in Calgary, right? Well, unlike Mr. Baird, he doesn't have an advantage. Technically, he's on a business trip to Ottawa for most of the year, and must spend a considerable amount of time away from his comfortable home in Calgary. So, let's just assume that Mr. Kenney stays at a hotel, apartment or a rented home, or even a second home. Either way, he's not in the comfort of his own home in his Calgary-area riding, and he'll never feel like he's at home.
Another advantage of being an Ottawa-area MP is that costs go down. Since Mr. Baird already lives in Ottawa, he spends less on lodging, unlike Mr. Kenney, who has to spend extra money to live in Ottawa while he works.
2. Shorter Commute Times For this crazy example, we are going to use Liberal MP David McGuinty (Ottawa South) as an example. Anyway, let's just assume that Mr. McGuinty is a backbencher MP that one day questioned the prime minister, only to be yelled at by the Honourable John Baird. After a long day of getting served by Mr. Baird, we'll assume Mr. McGuinty is tired too, and wants to go back to his comfy home and sleep.
Well, as an Ottawa-area MP, all he has to do is hop on an OC Transpo bus, take a cab or drive home to his comfortable home somewhere in Ottawa, right? See, it will take less than an hour, and probably won't cost him very much in terms of gasoline expenses.
Now, for commute times, let's take the Honourable Lynne Yelich, the Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification) and use her situation as an example. She is also an MP for the Saskatoon-area riding of Blackstrap. Anyway, let's just say that she was one day questioned intensively by the Honourable Ralph Goodale, who was previously the Minister of Finance before Paul Martin's government was defeated, during question period.
After a long day of being heckled and the requirement to heckle her opponent until they back down, the Honourable Lynne Yelich would probably want to head back home to her comfy home somewhere in or around Saskatoon and see her family again and not go to her "home away from home" in Ottawa. Well, because she serves in Ottawa for a riding based all the way in Saskatchewan, she does not have an advantage, unlike Mr. McGuinty.
Unlike Mr. McGuinty, Lynne has no home-field advantage. If David McGuinty wanted to head to his "home sweet home," all he has to do is drive home. As for the minister of state for western economic diversification, she would have to either drive home to Saskatoon, fly home (taking about three to four hours) or somehow find a jet-pack that can travel from Ottawa to Saskatoon.
3. Giving off the Impression of Working Harder than You Really Are
We all know that all Members of Parliament, whether they are from the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP or Bloc Québécois, all work hard as MPs, as they have a vested interest in making their constituents happy, even if they are whipped by party unity more than often. But, sometimes, MPs can easily anger their constituents by being elsewhere.
For example, I've heard citizens here in Saskatoon complain about a local MP and how he/she is not in Saskatoon enough, while I've heard others complain about another local MP and how he/she is in Saskatoon too much, and not spending enough time getting business done out in Ottawa.
With the distance that MPs must travel between Ottawa and Saskatoon, it is virtually impossible to be in two places at the same time, without a clone. And since cloning isn't quite possible yet, MPs outside of Ottawa have a major disadvantage, unlike their colleagues who were elected in Ottawa-area ridings.
Let's just say that that local MP Kelly Block (Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar) was given those complaints and tried her best to be in two places at the same time. Well, it's impossible, because she would have to travel for long lengths of time to get back and forth between both cities. But, it's not as bad for an MP that represents an Ottawa-area riding, such as the Honourable John Baird, Minister of Transport. With Kelly Block's major disadvantage set aside, let's examine the situation of another Ottawa-area MP.
This time, we'll use the Honourable Mauril Bélanger as an example, who is a Liberal MP in the riding of Ottawa-Vanier, who also prefers communicating in French. And at one point during his political career, he was the Minister of Internal Trade in Paul Martin's short-lived Liberal minority government, and we're going to assume that at some point, he answered questions from the opposition Conservative, NDP and Bloc Québécois MPs during question period back then in French, with hilarity.
Anyway, if Mauril Bélanger faced the same complaints that I heard back here in Saskatoon, all he has to do is drive back-and-forth between his riding and Parliament Hill, unlike Kelly Block, who would have to spend countless hours on a plane between Ottawa and Saskatoon, thus costing more to travel, unlike Mauril Bélanger.
There you go; you now have three reasons as to why being an Ottawa-area MP has its advantages over being an MP in a riding not based in Ottawa or the general Ottawa area. As for the disadvantages... well, the only thing I can think of is that you don't get to leave town for business as often as you'd like to, as business trips essentially give you a free, but short opportunity to explore other cities around the world, if you are lucky enough to be sent on them.
Anyway, I'm Reverend Huy Dang, and thank you for reading my nonsensical article.
So, let's just assume we are living the life of the Honourable John Baird. Every morning, he wakes up, gets to work on Parliament Hill, sits in the House of Commons and eventually prepares himself for question period at 2:15 pm (11:15 am on Fridays) when he is questioned intensively by the Leader of the Opposition, his back-benchers, Jack Layton and/or his backbencher MPs, or their critics.
Now, let's just pretend you are the Honourable Jason Kenney, the Minister of Immigration, who is also the MP for Calgary Southeast. Well, Mr. Kenney may work in Ottawa, but he lives in Calgary, right? Well, unlike Mr. Baird, he doesn't have an advantage. Technically, he's on a business trip to Ottawa for most of the year, and must spend a considerable amount of time away from his comfortable home in Calgary. So, let's just assume that Mr. Kenney stays at a hotel, apartment or a rented home, or even a second home. Either way, he's not in the comfort of his own home in his Calgary-area riding, and he'll never feel like he's at home.
For this crazy example, we are going to use Liberal MP David McGuinty (Ottawa South) as an example. Anyway, let's just assume that Mr. McGuinty is a backbencher MP that one day questioned the prime minister, only to be yelled at by the Honourable John Baird. After a long day of getting served by Mr. Baird, we'll assume Mr. McGuinty is tired too, and wants to go back to his comfy home and sleep.
Now, for commute times, let's take the Honourable Lynne Yelich, the Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification) and use her situation as an example. She is also an MP for the Saskatoon-area riding of Blackstrap. Anyway, let's just say that she was one day questioned intensively by the Honourable Ralph Goodale, who was previously the Minister of Finance before Paul Martin's government was defeated, during question period.
Let's just say that that local MP Kelly Block (Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar) was given those complaints and tried her best to be in two places at the same time. Well, it's impossible, because she would have to travel for long lengths of time to get back and forth between both cities. But, it's not as bad for an MP that represents an Ottawa-area riding, such as the Honourable John Baird, Minister of Transport. With Kelly Block's major disadvantage set aside, let's examine the situation of another Ottawa-area MP.
Anyway, if Mauril Bélanger faced the same complaints that I heard back here in Saskatoon, all he has to do is drive back-and-forth between his riding and Parliament Hill, unlike Kelly Block, who would have to spend countless hours on a plane between Ottawa and Saskatoon, thus costing more to travel, unlike Mauril Bélanger.