Beyond The Commons

 Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Meet the new kids

by Aaron Wherry on Wednesday, May 4, 2011 11:34am - 27 Comments

Bill Curry talks to the NDP MP for Sherbrooke.

I’m studying politics right now at the Université de Sherbrooke. I threw myself into the race knowing what I was getting into. My goal was victory. I knew I could win. I entered because I was always hearing people who wanted change, people who wanted to send a young person into politics. That’s what encouraged me to run, to propose something new for the people of Sherbrooke.

More here, here, here and here.

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  • OriginalEmily1
  • Tceh

    If he makes it 6 years as an MP he will have a lifelong pension courtesy of you and me. At age 25. wow

    • Mark

      Won't he only start drawing the pension at age 55 or something?

    • P_Maitland

      True, but he's going to have to win again, and even then stay around for a fairly long time to earn a large pension. MPs get 3% of their best 5 years average for each year of service. So, the starting pension amount is something like $25,-30,000.

      Its still going to add up to a lot given this MPs age, but I'd be more worried by his regular pay for the next for years. If the NDP keeps many of these Quebec seats, then we can have discussions about pensions, but I'm not sure its ever going to come up.

  • Mike T.

    See, he already has a politicians attitude! :)

    And I'll take him over Brad Trost any day.

  • Tceh

    I can't help but think SH must be elated…….ELATED not only at the majority but at the orange cannon fodder that he is facing for the next 4 years. Good luck orange surge.

    • BGLong

      Hey, I know ! Let's set up a series of debates … the Kids vs the Cons … we can start off with
      Gary Goodyear and move down from there ..

  • WDM

    Perhaps it comes across different in person or on the phone, but is he more or less saying sovereignty is inevitable in that article?

    • former_ADB

      No (in my opinion).
      But I think he was being careful not to comment explicitly on the desirability of Quebec Independence and his view on the matter.

    • Be_rad

      So long as Quebec remains in Canada could be an unfortuante linguistic formulation from an ESL speaker, or it could be a very important insight into the mindset of those who ran.

  • former_ADB

    Pierre-Luc Dusseault is my new MP.

    I didn't vote for him, but I wish him well.

    Time will only tell how this infusion of new, young blood will work out. There are many potential problems, but a bright young caucus might be a significant symbolic advantage for the NDP down the line.

  • chrimartel

    Way to go lad!

    Yes, he might do some mistakes because of his age. But since we send hundreds of volunteer teenagers at war in Afghanistan and since many have complained (myself included) that some section of the youth are apathetic towards politics, I think we should leave him alone and engage with in terms of ideas, not with any kind of paternalism.

  • rick

    Hey,
    Aside from the "cash-for-life" jokes, it's business as usual, just like the Converative and Liberals and their lifelong "pensions" which have been bleeding us too, for the last 150 years or so.

    It would be advantageous for you Liberals to give a little love for the NDP -or atleast pretend to do it for a little awhile, you haven't got much choice, or friends' now, except us NDP'ers.
    Or, how about atleast until Justinian (aka yout Mr. T Junior) gets a shot at the title.
    comon, what do ya say, eh ?

  • http://idrinkinthemorning.com Rick Omen

    What I'd really like to know is what % of these "new" New Democrats are 9/11 Truthers. I'm sure these guys are going to be putting their foots in their mouths PLENTY over the next four years.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Ottawa_Centrist Ottawa_Centrist

      Send in Trump to investigate

    • http://halooverride.blogspot.com/ Halo_Override

      Can we have a parallel investigation into how many CPC MPs are Birthers? Or is that "different"?

      • http://idrinkinthemorning.com Rick Omen

        Sure, go for it. I suspect the number would be somewhere between zilch and zero.

    • craigola

      Is that really what you'd really like to know? Because I suppose you could find out easily enough, even though I also suppose you'd be engaging in a giant waste of time and effort.

  • John D

    There are a lot of people bashing these new, inexperienced NDP MPs. In my mind, it is called the House of 'Commons' for a reason. I wish them all luck and hope they make an excellent contribution to our Parliament.

    • Thwim

      Actually, it's called the house of commons because its supposed to be a meeting place for the representatives of the various communities that make up the area. It has nothing to do with "common" as in "ordinary"

  • Kevin

    There are a whole bunch of profiles of these new MPs in Wednesday's La Presse. Suss it out if you can.

    Most of these 'guppies' come across as dedicated people with a history of social activism. Union organizers. Lawyers. People who create Amnesty International groups. Diplomats.

    I have a feeling the amount of fishbait among the new crowd is much lower than the media class and commenters expect.

  • catherine

    Being young is one thing, but forging people's signatures on a legal election document is another. The CBC is reporting:

    Two people whose names appear on the nomination papers for the NDP's newly elected MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau say they never provided their signatures.

    I imagine that getting 100 signatures when you don't speak the language and no one knows you and the orange crush hasn't hit yet, is not an easy task.

  • tobyornotoby

    I like it that he is talking about working with Nikki Ashton to connect with youth. Someoen needs to address their campaing to the otehr large demographic group. The Quebec example could inspire disengaged youths to believe voting can make change.

    Anyone see any kind of analysis of youth voter turnout? I'm not even sure how that is done, polling I guess.

  • madeyoulook

    http://montreal.ctv.ca/

    Check out this video report: NDP wave across Quebec surprised everyone, including the candidates.

    The morning after the shocking NDP sweep in Quebec, some candidates who didn't expect to be going to Ottawa now have to make some new plans. Stephane Giroux reports.

    Note 1:38 of the video: What? Go to Ottawa NOW? Gee, you know, the timing is really bad for me right now. I will be happy to serve the constituents I never met during the campaign,* but you don't expect me to just drop everything to be your new MP, do you? Oh, you do? Well, why on earth did you all vote for me, didn't you know I was a school teacher? It was pretty much the only detail about me that I shared with you!

    (* = Somebody mentioned a six-figure salary…?)

  • madeyoulook

    MEMO

    To: Maclean's Annual University Rankings Issue
    From: MYL
    Date: May 4, 2011
    RE: New metric for tabulation.

    For reasons I cannot properly explain (and prefer not to explore too deeply anyways), I have developed a fascination with McGill student and AMUSE employee Charmaine Borg, our country's newest députée pour la circonscription de Terrebonne-Blainville, since Wells introduced "Avez-vous vu Charmaine?" on the blog. The McGill Daily reports three or four (and commenters have added a fourth or fifth) currently enrolled McGill student elected at the last federal general election. The one conditional extra depends on whether you want to count an imminently graduating student or not.
    http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2011/05/four-mcgill-st…

    So how many other active full- or part-time students have been elected MP in 2011 from other institutions of higher learning across Canada? Go Redmen & Martlets!

  • madeyoulook

    Meet the new kids' Quebec mentor:
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/05/04/…

    This is shaping up to be an interesting Parliament, in the oriental-curse meaning of the word interesting…

  • http://onelinecritic.wordpress.com/ DirtyOldTown

    Good for them. We can't complain that young people don't get involved in politics and then turn around and mock them when they do.

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