New Democrats began gathering in St. John’s Tuesday to map out the party’s plan for the Parliamentary session — a new beginning, they say, since the party spent much of its first year dealing with the transition to official Opposition status with a large crop of neophyte MPs, the death of Jack Layton and the leadership race that followed.
During that time, people like environment critic Megan Leslie, ethics critic Charlie Angus and newly elected Quebec MP Alexandre Boulerice rose to the forefront.
But since Thomas Mulcair became leader in March, a number of other names have come up as frequent flyers during question period and member statements.
People like deputy transport critic Robert Aubin, military procurement critic Matthew Kellway and deputy finance critic Guy Caron have each stood in the House of Commons at least 15 times during the brief spring session that was dominated by the federal budget to attempt to hold the government to account.
And then there’s the young women of the NDP’s fledgling Quebec caucus.
A review of Parliamentary records suggests Christine Moore, Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, Rosane Dore Lefebvre and Anne Minh-Thu Quach have each risen between 15 and 29 times since late March.
All under 30 when they were elected last year, three now hold deputy-critic roles in defence, public safety and the environment while Blanchette-Lamothe is the party’s seniors critic.
Postmedia News caught up with some of these lesser-known up-and-comers after their Quebec caucus meeting, the first of many strategy sessions taking place in Newfoundland.
Tired of hearing other parties say the NDP knows nothing about the military, Moore relishes the opportunity to prove otherwise.
She served in the Canadian Forces for three years and is confident when she speaks, she speaks from experience.
“To have the chance to stand up and say in the House of Commons something about the military, about the F-35 . . . has really been an honour for me,” Moore said, adding herself, Kellway and defence critic Jack Harris have made a good team.
“It’s really a personal passion.”
She takes her role pretty seriously and says she can get pretty upset when she receives “stupid” answers that don’t “mean anything” from Conservatives.
Since Mulcair named her deputy critic for public safety, Dore Lefebvre said she’s had a lot of opportunity to speak up on issues that directly affect her riding which is home to three federal prisons, including Leclerc Institution which the Conservatives are shutting down.
Quite shy at first, she’s come to know her file well and has no problem taking on the Tories on matters of prison closures and double bunking.
“Trying to get answers is a little bit more difficult than asking questions,” she added.
“We need to prove to people we are capable — that we can do the job and we would do a better job than what’s going on right now with the Conservatives.”
As House Leader, Nathan Cullen plays a big role in who gets to rise as the party’s spokespeople.
While the issues of the day often dictate this, he’s discovered some “good parings” like Angus and Boulerice on government misspending and has remarked about Kellway’s “funny” yet “effective” “dry style.”
He’s enjoyed watching the new MPs “flower and change” and has started running after hours practice sessions in the House of Commons to help them improve — something he wants to expand this fall to speeches and community events.
“It’s an intimidating thing as you can imagine and there’s no set of rules. You have to find your own voice and your own way of doing things,” he said.
“We try to constantly be better than the day before . . . We’re making some very clear arguments on some very big policy issues and we’re presenting ourselves as a potential government . . . There’s no way I would have said this a year ago but I’m comfortable with where we’re at and I’m feeling very optimistic.”
Carleton University political scientist Bruce Hicks suggested efforts to showcase the party’s talents seem to resonate the further away from Ottawa an MP is from. For example, he’s noticed British Columbians know and are interested in what their local NDP MP is doing more than people elsewhere.
While, while it’s important for the NDP to “pay lip service” to the “team idea” in order to “convince Canadians that there’s a government in waiting,” he argues elections are really all about who is going to be prime minister.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Tobi Cohen
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