I'll say my bit again too.
If we get rid of everyone who lies or has embellished something there won't be anyone left in the house of commons.
NDP MP Ruth Brosseau lied on Resume
- Thread starter Andem
- Start date
If we get rid of everyone who lies or has embellished something there won't be anyone left in the house of commons.
Grow up and treat young MPs with respect
We want more young people and women to get involved in politics, yet when they do engage, we treat them terribly.
Take MP-elect Ruth Ellen Brosseau and the vitriol she's had to endure since her unexpected victory in a central Quebec riding between Montreal and Quebec City. The young, single mother has been ripped into by righteous critics who think they know better than the electorate of Berthier-Maskinonge.
Voters elected Brosseau and they did so decidedly, handing her nearly 40 per cent of the vote and almost 6,000 more votes than her nearest opponent. That her stunning victory was a surprise caught even the candidate herself off guard, but that's no excuse for the mean-spirited backlash toward her from the media, rival candidates and other critics outside the riding.
The 27-year-old has successfully managed a campus pub at Carleton University. I'm pretty sure she can handle the sophomoric jeering, cat-calling and other poor behaviour typical of our parliamentarians.
Should Canada's latest victim of MP bashing fail, then the ones who elected her will have no one to blame but themselves and will have ample opportunity to get rid of her four years from now. That's how democracy works. Brosseau should be given a chance, instead of being excoriated for getting involved and putting her name down as a paper candidate on the ballot.
She should be applauded for rising above the apathy so prevalent among her generation.
Paper candidates are perfectly legitimate. They allow political neophytes to get their feet wet, gain valuable experience and help federal parties run candidates even where they're least likely to win. Brosseau knows she needs to be accountable to the people who elected her, and so she gave her first and only interview to the local paper in her riding, Le Nouvelliste.
Brosseau said she was asked to run. She agreed to do so as a favour to a party she's long supported.
"It was just symbolic," she said. "I was approached to put my name on a ballot, but I was a supporter of the NDP for many years."
Many of the criticisms levelled against her have been grossly unfair when considered in the context that she didn't expect to win.
It would partly explain why she didn't visit the riding during the campaign. Or why she went to Las Vegas for a "special birthday trip" planned before the election, and that she said she couldn't cancel.
But what matters most is what she does now, going forward as their representative.
Brosseau showed up in her riding Wednesday and said she has every intention of becoming a familiar face in the days, weeks and years to come. A news conference celebrating the fifth anniversary of a local museum, which used to be the home of a 19th-century woman who helped unwed mothers, was a good choice for a first appearance.
The visit was unannounced and attracted only local media.
That's a good sign that she's prepared to do the hard slogging that comes with being an active MP, working for, and in, her community. It's ribbon cuttings, rubber-chicken dinners and mind-numbing, low-key events that only the local community cares about that will win the hearts and minds of her constituents.
Brosseau was accused of padding her biography to say she graduated from St. Lawrence College. She's actually two credits short and quit before getting her diploma for family reasons. Brosseau never claimed she finished college -an NDP party worker made the mistake while editing the website.
Much noise has been made about Brosseau's ability to speak French, so much so, one would believe she is a unilingual anglophone with no ties to la belle province. Actually, she was born in Montreal to a French father, Marc Brosseau. She was in French immersion after her family moved to Kingston, Ont., and she lives in Gatineau, Que.
It's probably more accurate to call her a receptive bilingual; someone who understands the language, but is reluctant to speak, and who would achieve oral fluency quite quickly if fully immersed. According to her dad, "The quality of (her) French is good," he told CTV. "It's just if she wants to rise to the occasion, she speaks it, but let's just say it's not at a high proficiency level."
She's rising to the occasion now. As for her age, 27 is hardly young, with many MPs under 24 and as young as 19. Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister, was only a year older, 28, when he was first elected.
It's the country that needs to grow up. Brosseau's dignified response to the shameful treatment she's received suggests this bright young woman can more than handle herself, and is well on her way to becoming a role model for women, young people and any other marginalized demographic that, for obvious reasons, are reluctant to participate in politics.
Read more: Grow up and treat young MPs with respect
We want more young people and women to get involved in politics, yet when they do engage, we treat them terribly.
Take MP-elect Ruth Ellen Brosseau and the vitriol she's had to endure since her unexpected victory in a central Quebec riding between Montreal and Quebec City. The young, single mother has been ripped into by righteous critics who think they know better than the electorate of Berthier-Maskinonge.
Voters elected Brosseau and they did so decidedly, handing her nearly 40 per cent of the vote and almost 6,000 more votes than her nearest opponent. That her stunning victory was a surprise caught even the candidate herself off guard, but that's no excuse for the mean-spirited backlash toward her from the media, rival candidates and other critics outside the riding.
The 27-year-old has successfully managed a campus pub at Carleton University. I'm pretty sure she can handle the sophomoric jeering, cat-calling and other poor behaviour typical of our parliamentarians.
Should Canada's latest victim of MP bashing fail, then the ones who elected her will have no one to blame but themselves and will have ample opportunity to get rid of her four years from now. That's how democracy works. Brosseau should be given a chance, instead of being excoriated for getting involved and putting her name down as a paper candidate on the ballot.
She should be applauded for rising above the apathy so prevalent among her generation.
Paper candidates are perfectly legitimate. They allow political neophytes to get their feet wet, gain valuable experience and help federal parties run candidates even where they're least likely to win. Brosseau knows she needs to be accountable to the people who elected her, and so she gave her first and only interview to the local paper in her riding, Le Nouvelliste.
Brosseau said she was asked to run. She agreed to do so as a favour to a party she's long supported.
"It was just symbolic," she said. "I was approached to put my name on a ballot, but I was a supporter of the NDP for many years."
Many of the criticisms levelled against her have been grossly unfair when considered in the context that she didn't expect to win.
It would partly explain why she didn't visit the riding during the campaign. Or why she went to Las Vegas for a "special birthday trip" planned before the election, and that she said she couldn't cancel.
But what matters most is what she does now, going forward as their representative.
Brosseau showed up in her riding Wednesday and said she has every intention of becoming a familiar face in the days, weeks and years to come. A news conference celebrating the fifth anniversary of a local museum, which used to be the home of a 19th-century woman who helped unwed mothers, was a good choice for a first appearance.
The visit was unannounced and attracted only local media.
That's a good sign that she's prepared to do the hard slogging that comes with being an active MP, working for, and in, her community. It's ribbon cuttings, rubber-chicken dinners and mind-numbing, low-key events that only the local community cares about that will win the hearts and minds of her constituents.
Brosseau was accused of padding her biography to say she graduated from St. Lawrence College. She's actually two credits short and quit before getting her diploma for family reasons. Brosseau never claimed she finished college -an NDP party worker made the mistake while editing the website.
Much noise has been made about Brosseau's ability to speak French, so much so, one would believe she is a unilingual anglophone with no ties to la belle province. Actually, she was born in Montreal to a French father, Marc Brosseau. She was in French immersion after her family moved to Kingston, Ont., and she lives in Gatineau, Que.
It's probably more accurate to call her a receptive bilingual; someone who understands the language, but is reluctant to speak, and who would achieve oral fluency quite quickly if fully immersed. According to her dad, "The quality of (her) French is good," he told CTV. "It's just if she wants to rise to the occasion, she speaks it, but let's just say it's not at a high proficiency level."
She's rising to the occasion now. As for her age, 27 is hardly young, with many MPs under 24 and as young as 19. Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister, was only a year older, 28, when he was first elected.
It's the country that needs to grow up. Brosseau's dignified response to the shameful treatment she's received suggests this bright young woman can more than handle herself, and is well on her way to becoming a role model for women, young people and any other marginalized demographic that, for obvious reasons, are reluctant to participate in politics.
Read more: Grow up and treat young MPs with respect