I was surprised by the invite.
Kelly Greene, MLA for Richmond-Steveston, asked if I would like to attend the throne speech at the legislature in Victoria last Monday.
That’s a bit of a commute, was my first thought, but what the heck. I’ve been in journalism a long time (don’t ask) and have been to many political meetings and proclamations at various city halls and even some on Parliament Hill, but I’d never set foot inside B.C.’s legislature.
To be clear, I wasn’t going as a reporter to cover the throne speech. At Glacier Media, our parent company, we have plenty of great reporters and commentators who do that. Rather, I was being invited as a guest who (as Greene put it) might want to let readers know how their MLA spends their day.
The first answer to that question is committee meetings. As soon as we arrived, I was quickly handed over to Greene’s legislative assistant, as she scurried off to a committee meeting to discuss fisheries.
I didn’t complain, it gave me time to wander through the historic institution, with its intricately tiled floors and dome ceiling covered in paintings. My first port of call was the library, where I made a beeline for a shelf where volumes of bound newspapers were open to various historical records. That’s where I found an article in the Victoria Daily Times, Feb. 10, 1897 headlined “A Marble Palace” announcing the opening of the new provincial legislature building.
I was struck by the weight of history and importance of record-keeping, particularly in relation to today’s fast moving, ephemeral media landscape.
And it’s not just historical records that reside in those hallowed halls, but traditions themselves. Prior to the throne speech was the arrival of the Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin, complete with red carpet, inspection of the guards and a 15-gun salute.
But how does this answer the question, what do our MLAs do all day?
The throne speech outlined the large vision and priorities for the upcoming year. But as with any grand proclamation, the devil’s in the details and this is where committee work comes in. Before we’d finished lunch, both Greene and Aman Singh, MLA Richmond-Queensborough, were rushing off again to another such meeting.
But here’s the thing. I have been critical of MLAs of all stripes for being active and vocal champions of various local issues who then become provincial politicians and suddenly have nothing to say about specific local issues we, as a community newspaper, want to hear about.
The argument back is that they’re part of a team, and while they work hard on committees doing great work that will benefit Richmond, they can’t talk about it until all the ducks are in a row and the press release is issued. I get that — kinda. I’d still argue that citizens need to feel more part of the process and that their MLAs are more than glorified communications officers.
When I asked Greene what the hardest part of the job has been, she said situations where there has been no good solution. When, for example, there is a service, but for some reason a person’s unique circumstances mean they can’t access it.
It suddenly occurred to me our strata is in exactly that situation. For some reason we are not eligible for a provincial EV charger rebate because we don’t have car ports and we don’t have a single communal parking lot. Rather, we have open parking stalls in front of each units. Why that should exclude us from the rebate, I have no idea When I said this to Greene, she lit up, demanding I send her all our information. She was all over it. As I left the legislature, her final words were, “Send me those emails!”
So, what does an MLA do all day? They carry forward the long and important tradition of parliamentary democracy.
What does that really mean? I’ll let you know when we get our rebate.
