MPs should get a real job

Are you looking for a part-time job that works with your busy student schedule? One with low hours, low pressure and low responsibility, but full-time pay and benefits? Then you should consider running for Parliament. 

This year, our elected representatives in Ottawa will sit for a paltry 73 days — the shortest duration since 1937. 

Even during the lax Trudeau era, the House of Commons would typically sit for over 100 days. 

While MPs work in their ridings between sittings, time in the House is crucial for bills to be fully debated and thoughtfully considered.

In a year where Canada has faced unprecedented challenges, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has promised “to do things that we haven’t imagined before, at speeds we didn’t think possible,” our MPs are essentially working a part-time gig.    

It’s not just the number of days that’s the issue. While Carney will finally present the budget in November — later than his government initially projected — he announced plans to nearly quintuple defense spending by 2035, before Parliament even had a chance to weigh in.

This isn’t an accident, and it isn’t isolated. 

Nova Scotia’s members of the legislative assembly just wrapped up their fall session after a whopping eight days — a rush job that did not leave room for proper debate, and which Opposition NDP leader Claudia Chender called “a session that really makes a mockery of this House.” 

We need strong, decisive leaders to pass important legislation — but in an attempt to do that, our leaders are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 

While rushing to pass legislation they see as crucial, they are eroding a principle that is central to Canada: our democratic process. 

Canada operates on a parliamentary system, meaning our prime minister is legally “first amongst equals” with all other MPs. 

Our system is built on cooperation, a diversity of parties and views, real debate and direct accountability to voters. It is these tenets which foster a responsive, balanced and democratic government.

For Canada, our parliamentary system is a testament to our core principles and strength, but for Carney and other leaders, it’s a hindrance. 

Debate, discussion and the spread of decision-making power isn’t what you want when you’re trying to move fast, so Canadian governments are working around, rather than with Parliament. 

While this may help pass more bills, it’s never been the individual laws that make a government good. If the legislation passed comes at the expense of our democracy, the price is too great.

In our attempt to fight back against Donald Trump and his erratic, dictatorial policy-making, we’re at risk of falling into the same trap that allows him to run wild. 

We cannot beat a bad president by creating our own somewhat-good prime minister; we can only do it through a truly empowered, active and democratic parliament. 

Voters and MPs must refuse to let Carney sideline Canada’s elected representatives. They must reopen the House for real sessions and genuine debate in order to build a better future — together. 

Besides, it would be good for Carney too: if he lets the 343 MPs do real work again, he can finally say he’s tackling unemployment.