MOOSOMIN — From a voter’s point of view, their work is finished once the ballot is cast. But for a new MP, the work is just beginning.
“There hasn’t been any downtime,” explained newly elected Souris-Moose Mountain MP Steven Bonk. “Right from the election to taking down signs and getting the election campaign wrapped up and doing all the documentation for that, right into new members orientation in Ottawa. I’ve been quite busy just getting organized in Ottawa, learning the ropes, and there’s a lot of administration to get done before session starts, which would include training sessions, swearing in and basically just familiarizing myself with the systems in Ottawa.”
With parliament set to resume today (May 26) and the speech from the throne happening tomorrow, a lot of work behind the scenes needs to be done. Fortunately, with years of transferrable experience as an MLA in Moosomin-Montmartre, Bonk finds some similarities between the roles.
“I hope I’m not making a mistake by assuming that it will be similar to my role as an MLA in the provincial legislature, but so far, a lot of the process is the same or very similar,” he observed. “So I think I have a bit of a running start when it comes to getting my feet under me in Ottawa!”
In that time between the election wrapping up and the spring session beginning, Bonk has also been busy with local matters.
“In the meantime, we’ve been quite busy already helping constituents and then there’s also the business side here back in Souris-Moose Mountain, setting up offices, getting staff organized, and just preparing ourselves for the work ahead,” he said.
As for his take on the new Liberal government’s first few days, Bonk notes some confusion on what is actually being done.
“From the back and forth we’ve heard from the Liberals so far, it’s hard to know what to think,” he said. “We’re hearing mixed messages coming from the Prime Minister and then quite often contradictory messages coming from his cabinet. The Liberals do have quite a poor track record of saying one thing and doing another, so we will see if they remain true to their word.”
One example has been with Prime Minister Mark Carney vowing support for an energy pipeline on the campaign trail, but Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault expressing the opposite view post-election.
“And not just Guilbeault, Dominic Leblanc (Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs) also reiterated that the energy corridor would be about all sorts of electricity infrastructure, and he said ‘not necessarily pipelines’,” Bonk said. “So that’s also a reason for concern for people in our riding. We’re in the heartland of production here when it comes to conventional oil production in Saskatchewan, and it’s extremely important to us that we have a way to get our product to market. Pipelines are the most efficient way to get our product to market.”
The spring session runs from May 26 to June 20, with MPs breaking for the summer until Sept. 15. Bonk plans to spend the summer with committee work, but he says the most important—and enjoyable—part of his job is meeting with the people of Souris-Moose Mountain.
“It will be time to get out into the constituency and meet more people, to hear their concerns and tell them about the work that the opposition is doing to represent them in Ottawa,” he said.
As for the four weeks of this first session after the election, it will be interesting to see exactly what will be discussed.
“It’s unprecedented to have no budget planned—especially coming from a former Bank of Canada governor,” said Bonk. “It’s just mind-boggling. It’s very interesting times and concerning times in Canada at the moment, and I know our opposition will do everything we can to hold this government to account and hopefully force an election as soon as we can.”
“With an increased number of seats on the opposition side, we have quite a diverse and strong team, and I’m looking forward to doing some really good work to hold the Liberals to account,” Bonk concluded.
