February 18, 2010
By
Alison Loat
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 have thought it might even have been higher.
Most of the MPs in our project have kids. We often ask the MPs if they'd like their children to go into politics. We're in the midst of analyzing the results right now, but so far, it looks pretty split among three answers: no, direct yes and the slightly modified yes (i.e., sure, but only if they wanted to).
I'm curious what teachers, doctors, lawyers, soldiers (or any other profession, really) would say if asked if they'd like their kids to follow in their professional footsteps.
LABELS:
MP Exit Interviews, political leadership
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