Help Wanted

NDP newbie MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau is seeking a Parliamentary Assistant.  I was a little hard on Ms. Brosseau during last spring’s federal election. I don’t apologize for it – my points were valid – but I’m surprised by the beating this young MP is taking – on Twitter, Facebook – over her job posting. (As an aside, it pays much better than my first Hill job so dust off your c.v. if you’re interested).

As political staff will tell you, and good MPs will admit, the best politicians have hardworking, smart and dedicated staff. When things go right, your boss gets all the credit and when the day is bad, you get all the blame. Some MPs have been elected and re-elected since the invention of fire and others, like Ms. Brosseau, are, well, so green they’re blindingly chartreuse. But they all had to start sometime. Like another MP who arrived on the Hill at the age of 29 speaking very little English, who went on to become one of the greatest Prime Ministers in Canadian history.

Will the young mom from Ottawa, now representing a Quebec riding she had never visited before being elected, leave a legacy greater than the bad publicity that surrounded her bizarre Vegas writ trip? Don’t know. But let’s give her a chance. So, for the love of God, get her some good staff.