A Focus on Parliamentary Support Services
If you ask a member of the public to picture a federal parliament or a provincial or territorial assembly, the two images that spring to mind most often would be the buildings themselves, and the various MPs, senators, MHAs, MLAs, MNAs, and MPPs who sit in the chambers within them.
But spare a moment to think about the people who maintain these buildings, who work to support parliamentarians as they fulfill their constitutional roles, and who enable these democratic institutions to welcome tens of thousands of visitors each year in person and speak to countless others through an online presence.
In this edition of the Canadian Parliament Review, we spare more than a moment’s thought to these people. We make them our focus.
This special theme issue begins with a photo essay that brings some aspects of working life on Parliament Hill into view.
Next, in three articles we speak directly with people who provide parliamentary support services (including a roundtable with representatives from parliamentary support service organizations and an interview with a long-serving administrative employee in Yukon’s Assembly), and a parliamentarian who describes how he relies on these services to do his job (Ontario MPP Peter Tabuns).
Finally, employees of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Quebec’s Assemblée nationale, and the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island share articles exploring particular service areas.
Artour Sogomonian and Christine Fedoruk detail British Columbia’s goal to better support Members of the Legislative Assembly by streamlining service delivery through a single-window service model.
Elizabeth Reeve, a legislative translator at the Direction de la traduction et l’édition des lois of the Assemblée nationale du Québec, explores the history of legislative translation in the province.
And, Emily Doiron, Deputy Clerk at the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, reveals how employees of parliaments in small jurisdictions apply an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to extraordinary duties such as conference planning and hosting.
The idea for this theme issue came from Charles Robert, a former Clerk of the House of Commons and former CPR editorial board member. Mr. Robert spent some time visiting staff in the various branches and departments of the House of Commons shortly before his retirement to thank them for the work they do. We thank Mr. Robert for the idea to highlight these hard-working people whose immeasurable contributions are essential to keeping our parliamentary institutions functioning.
Will Stos
Editor, Canadian Parliamentary Review