We are pleased to share the introductory report of Canada's first-ever series of exit interviews with former Members of Parliament. It's called The Accidental Citizen?, and it sets the stage for a larger series of publications that will share the stories of the MPs who participated in the exit interviews. The title reflects the varied, and often unexpected, ways so many MPs described their journe... [More]

Many MPs said they came to federal politics accidentally. Is this what you would have expected? While on the one hand, anyone can run for political office, on the other, there’s no “farm team” in Canadian politics. Should we do more to develop a professional political class?

The MPs list a range of issues, local to national to international, that inspired them to run for federal office. What inspires your interest in politics? What would inspire greater interest?

The nomination is a crucial step in our electoral process, particularly for candidates in safe seats (a riding that is usually represented by MPs from the same political party) where it is akin to the election. Yet most MPs described the nomination process as confusing and uncomfortable. How can we improve the way our MPs are chosen?

These MPs came from a wide variety of backgrounds, yet Parliament is older, more male, whiter, and more educated than the Canadian population. Is this a problem? If so, what could be done to engage a wider group of Canadians in our politics?

Regular readers of this blog know that we are waist-deep in transcripts from our MP exit interview project. To date, we've spoken to 66 MPs from all parties living in most regions of Canada.  At two hours apiece, these interviews have generated a ton fascinating information that we'll be sharing in a number of ways, including in a series of reports, over the coming year. We're starting where... [More]

A recent Ipsos Reid poll asked Canadians if they would "encourage any family member to run for public office because it is a noble calling." The result? Two of every three Canadians polled, or 66%, said no. That's not a surprise. Given the negativity that surrounds much of the discussion around politics, not to mention the time and travel demands and public scrutiny associated with the job, I'd ... [More]

One of the most common questions I'm asked, maybe because of my own gender, is whether Samara's exit interviews take a particular look at women in politics. The answer is yes and no. Yes, because we are interviewing women (our pool, which draws form those who left public life during or after the last two Parliaments, includes 36 women, or about 26% of our total interviewees). This is a bit high... [More]

For most of us, how and where we spend our weekends, probably doesn't have a significant impact on our professional lives. Not so with MPs. Although not a specific area of our research, the MPs' personal and family lives invariably come up. One trend we've noticed, also supported by the research of Queen's professor Ned Franks, is the change in how MPs increasingly structure their work and home li... [More]

This post is for all those aspiring politicos out there: law school is not your only option!A common belief is that most politicians were lawyers before getting elected, an understandable assumption since so many former Canadian PMs (starting with John A. Macdonald, Wilfred Laurier to the more recent slate of Diefenbaker, Trudeau, Mulroney, Chrétien and Martin) were all lawyers. So on... [More]

Last week we told you about the 38th Parliament, and this week are a few highlights from the 39th, which followed the January 2006 election and sat from April 2006 to September 2008. This was Stephen Harper's first minority government. It doesn't seem that long ago does it? But you may be surprised by what you've forgotten... The novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseni dominated the fi... [More]

As we mentioned in earlier posts, most Mondays we'll try to share factoids on our MP Exit Interview project. Part of our background work involved putting the MP's service in context of the history of the time. Today: a short overview of the 38th Parliament, which followed the June 2004 election and sat from October 2004 until November 2005. Culturally, it was a time of icons. In 2004 Runaway a... [More]

When we started our MP Exit Interview project, among the decisions we had to make was which group of MPs we'd seek to interview first. Some suggested only interviewing those who retired (versus those who lost in an election, as they might have hard feelings). Others argued we should start with the oldest living MPs, or with women MPs or with those serving in cabinet. In the end, we opted to start... [More]

As promised, here are a few more factoids about the group we're speaking with as part of our exit interviews. An experienced group: the average tenure is just over 10 years. 28% served as cabinet ministers, 35% as parliamentary secretaries; Not all left willingly: 52% retired from federal politics and 48% were defeated; Slightly more female, relatively: 74% are male and 26% are female... [More]

Before Samara started our MP exit interviews, we spent a good chunk of the summer researching the backgrounds of the 139 former MPs that left public life during the 38th and 39th Parliaments. The team read whatever it could on these folks, including CBC riding profiles, and biographical sketches from Library of Parliament, Wikipedia and, where available, from the MPs' own websites.Where possible,... [More]

Several months ago we told you about some of the great people we've met at the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians. This group, non-profit and non-partisan, is comprised of those who have previously been in the Canadian Senate or House of Commons. It's kind of like the alumni association for ex-MPs and Senators, and they they have counterparts in many other countries, including the US... [More]