Since I’ve been elected MP people have asked me a lot of questions. They have asked questions on policy, questions about government grants, and questions about when the next election will be. However, the most frequently asked question is: What is it like in Ottawa? What do you do in Ottawa? So I thought I would share a bit of a typical day of my life in Ottawa.

8:00-9:00: Arrive in the office. Read and review briefing notes on committee business. This involves reading through bills, reviewing briefs submitted by witnesses, drafting questions to ask witnesses,

9:00-9:30: Discuss with Murray my research assistant future priorities. Typically we discuss: questions to ask the government in question period, positions we intend to take on bills we will be voting on, research we need to do for speeches, plan for newsletters etc.

9:30-12:30: This is the time of day when I do a bit of everything. I write this column, write letters to constituents, I may speak in the House of Commons deal with office administration, and meet with people. I meet with people representing a large variety concerns. Some people I have met with represent paramedics, mining prospectors, Taiwan, agriculture, diabetics, and marketing companies. The list is endless.

12:30-1:00: Lunch, I never miss this.

1:00-2:00 Time open for interviews, meeting constituents, referencing Green Book issues (The Green Book is where all correspondence, invitations, etc. are placed)

2:00-3:00: Question period. This is the daily circus that most people see on TV. It is not the main work of Parliament.

3:30-5:30: Committee work. This is where we study legislation in very specific detail. We call witnesses and debate the bill clause by clause. This is the most important part of legislation; this is where we can fix mistakes the government may make when they first draft the bill.

Evenings: Votes are held in the evenings; some evenings there are receptions to attend and some evenings are spent calling constituents. Debates on emergency issues are always held in the evenings. (We’ve held two on BSE alone.)

So that pretty much sums up a typical day in the House of Commons for me. It is not always the most glamorous, and it can be long but it is the way I represent you the people of Saskatoon Humboldt.