Parties to Blame for Parliament's Woes

Former MPs said that more often than not, their parties got in the way of their jobs and tarnished Canadians' opinions of Parliament.

Those not ensconced in the reality-detached world of the Ottawa bubble could have said this years ago, but an exit study of former MPs found they overwhelmingly blamed political parties for electoral dysfunction. Sixty-five members who left office between 2004 and 2008, including more than 20 cabinet ministers and former prime minister Paul Martin, routinely said their parties' demands ran counter to those of their riding, encouraged hyper-partisanship and reduced question period to staged one-upmanship. The survey, the first of its kind in Canada, found that parliamentarians thought committee meetings and other less-publicized aspects of their jobs, conversely, were the most productive and rewarding.