Free Tragedy in the Commons by Alison Loat Page B

days jolting. “The biggest surprise that I had when I went down there after being elected through the Reform Party was the total … I had some ideas about this big, well-greased machine [but] it was chaos. It was crazy,” he said. “I don’t know what it would have been like in ’93, when they all went down there. I went there in ’97, and at least they had a few years under the belt. But, as far as being new and thinking that somehow, there’s going to be some leadership or that someone is going to take you by the hand or whatever, there was none of that.… You are on your own.”
    Whatever preparation the new parliamentarians did manage was largely ad hoc and really began only once they arrived in Ottawa. “You learn by the seat of your pants,” observed Claudette Bradshaw, a Liberal from New Brunswick. “I was always amazed at how people go into it without having done any kind of homework,” said the NDP’s Penny Priddy. And Myron Thompson argued that by the time MPs arrived in Ottawa, it was already too late. “[Orientation] should take place long before the election.… Find out what the heck you’re getting into before you ever decide to run,” he said.
    Marlene Catterall observed that there was no opportunity to set goals or develop a plan. “It would be very wise to have someone encourage you to sit down at the beginning and say, ‘Okay, what is it you want to accomplish?’ It is such a busy life, you just tend to jump in and keep swimming. You shouldalmost have to go on a retreat to think through what it is you want to accomplish,” she said.
    Many MPs sought informal advice and mentorship, but found that even that wasn’t always helpful. “You’re getting tugged in every which way by different advice, so it was pretty confusing when we were first there,” said Toronto Liberal MP Bill Graham. Even more experienced parliamentarians weren’t always able to provide direction. Catherine Bell recalled asking for advice from a colleague. “He said, ‘I don’t know; I’ve been here for three years and I really don’t know.’ And I thought, ‘Gosh.… It takes a long time to learn things.’ ”
    Some found their fellow MPs less than supportive. “Guys are really protective of their knowledge because of the ladder climbers; they won’t share and … they don’t want you to become as smart as they think they are. Even in the same party. If I have a little more information than you, then I got a better chance,” Casson said.
    One exception to this overall lack of guidance was that of the new Bloc Québécois MPs to whom we spoke, most of whom were assigned a party mentor upon their arrival. They were grateful for the help. “I had a good MP as a mentor,” said Alain Boire, a Bloc MP for Beauharnois–Salaberry. “He had been there for a long time.… I asked for his advice often. I didn’t even know that when the bell rang I was supposed to enter the Chamber. I didn’t know that; I didn’t know anything.” However, the Bloc’s mentoring program seemed not to be universal, since other Bloc MPs explicitly mentioned that they would have benefited from mentorship.
    Only a few MPs said they spent time learning parliamentary rules and procedure. “Robert’s Rules of Order, all thosebooks were there, I read them, I learned them, I sat and watched other people, and I didn’t participate much in the beginning. I really just absorbed,” said Liberal MP Sue Barnes. Meanwhile, her fellow MP, David Anderson, pointed out that it was rare for his colleagues to engage in that kind of preparation. “Next to nobody knows the rules of the House,” Anderson said.
    Even apart from the rules, many newcomers claimed to have had little or no knowledge of the methods, traditions or culture of Parliament. This was particularly the case for those elected as members of the Reform Party. “Fifty-one of us went and didn’t know a damned thing about the House of Commons.… [We were like] deer in the