A political newbie enters the shark tank
I am about to start an internship in the parliamentary office of Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands and leader of the Green Party of Canada. The internship runs until the end of next June, and will give me the opportunity to attend parliamentary committees, correspond with constituents, attend legislative affairs, and work closely with her office staff.
The catch is, I have absolutely no experience with or knowledge of politics. My entire academic background is in science (evolutionary biology, which I studied at U of G). I have never taken a political science class in my life, but I am a stalwart environmentalist and apparently there’s room in politics for us too.
My internship is through an organization called GreenPAC, a nonpartisan nonprofit that promotes environmental leadership in Canadian politics by endorsing political candidates (including Elizabeth May and Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner) with a strong environmental track record.
In addition to promoting environmentally-minded candidates, GreenPAC also fosters environmental leadership by placing interns in the offices of endorsed MPs to learn about how to enact environmental change through the political apparatus. There are four interns in total and we will work under an MP from each Canadian political party. This is the first year this internship has run, so that makes us the pilot cohort — an exciting and intimidating opportunity to shape the program.
The orientation for the internship went much like you’d expect — with the exception of the camping trip. Instead of the formal, seminar-like (and probably boring) orientation that other parliamentary internship programs probably provide, GreenPAC brought us up to Gatineau Park for a low-key few days during which we were visited by and got to know several high-power environmental leaders in the business and political world. Although initially uncomfortable with meeting my idols while unshowered and in casual clothes, the neutral ground allowed us to really connect with our visitors and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to meet these people.
Once we got back to “civilization,” we were absolutely spoiled with a private tour of Parliament Hill’s Centre Block and the Library of Parliament. I felt especially privileged to be able to see inside Centre Block, as it will be shut down entirely in January 2019 for 15 to 20 years as it undergoes extensive renovations.
In my opinion, the most interesting thing about the Library of Parliament wasn’t the millions of dollars’ worth of rare books housed there — it was the Library’s staff.
Librarians aren’t typically known for being real live wires, but the enthusiasm of the surprisingly young and fantastically geeky staff members who showed us around was so contagious I couldn’t help but get excited about web-accessible resources.
A few members of the library staff even took us out for a drink afterwards to continue the conversation, which drifted from the renovations of the Parliament buildings to how (and how not) to behave on the Hill during our internships. Essentially, they recommended that we take it upon ourselves to know everything of relevance to our MP — including developments in our MP’s riding, the nitty-gritty of the legislative process, and the current status of ongoing business on the Hill. Their advice was both reassuring and foreboding: we will crack under the pressure, but that’s expected, and we just have to learn from our mistakes.
Our conversation took an interesting turn when we asked if they had any tips for us as former MP’s interns. They recommended that we try to figure out what the Senate actually does. This took me by surprise — how could people not know?
After some probing, I learned that in early 2014, the CBC reported that Justin Trudeau removed all 32 Senators from the Liberal caucus in a bid to unseat Prime Minister Stephen Harper. This action has had lasting repercussions on how bills are passed in the Senate, as it effectively means that the formerly Liberal (now independent) Senators are no longer formally associated with the ‘Liberal parliamentary machinery.’
In case you (like me) never took a class that reviewed the Canadian legislative process, a quick Google search can tell you that bills must be passed by both the House of Commons (which is comprised of elected MPs) and the Senate (which is comprised of senators appointed by the Governor General) before they can be made into law. According to the library staff members, having no party line for the senators to toe has apparently prolonged and confused the legislative process, and the Senate appears to still be figuring out how to adjust to a change made almost five years ago.
So, in a way, as the parliamentary buildings are undergoing renovations, so is the political infrastructure that they contain.
By the end of the two-week orientation process, and after having met several high-power professionals on the Hill, parliamentary librarians and tour guides, and the staff of Elizabeth May’s office (a lovely, warm, and hard-working bunch), I can definitely confirm that I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into. That being said, I welcome the challenges ahead and look forward to getting (and sharing) an inside view of how things happen on the Hill.
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Ella Harvery