Family Matters

It was an odd cab ride to the airport last week.  CBC Radio had asked if they could accompany me for an interview as I headed back to see my family.  The finished piece was played on CBC’s “The House” last weekend.  I had attempted to defend the rights of MPs to use their House-designated travel plans as a means of keeping their families together in what is an unbelievably hectic life.I thought about people like Russ Hiebert, a Conservative MP from the west coast and the virtual assault he has been under for attempting to keep his wife and small children with him during the hectic weeks.  As it is, most MPs miss some of the most important moments in their children’s lives and the guilt that ensues from not being there.  I have three adopted children from Sudan who had never seen a snowflake in their lives.  During a meeting, one of my twin girls, yelled excitedly into the phone that she had let a snowflake fall on her tongue.  When she asked why I wasn’t there, I was glad she couldn’t see the watering in my eyes.  I have missed awards ceremonies, first skates, visits to the hospital, nightmares and even birthdays.  It has, and always will remain, the hardest part of my public service. Thank God for my wife.Being from Ontario, my trip to Ottawa is brief; for Russ Hiebert it takes hours and hours.  Then he has to turn around at the end of the week and work his weary way back home.  He deserves every single penny he gets, as do Nathan Cullen (NDP from British Columbia), Larry Bagnall (Liberal from Yukon), and Chris Warkenton (Conservative from Peace River) – parents of young children.  The travel points originally designed by the Auditor General to compensate families for the lengthy times apart are as required by any member of Parliament as the research assistance they get from the Library of Parliament.The interviewer asked me in the cab what I thought about those who say that if you have a young family, you shouldn’t enter federal politics in the first place.  Think about that.  About 40% of the legislation that works through Parliament and the Senate every year is family-related.  We require legislators from all walks of life.  I’m a firefighter, a food bank director, and an international development worker.  What I bring to the House is unique and needed.  Larry, Chris, Nathan, and Russ bring skills and an outlook on life that says they have their own expertise but that in the end this is a country built on families, of all kinds, and of all shapes and sizes.  Russ’s very presence in the House guarantees that legacy and provides hope to all those families out there who need to know they are understood, appreciated and defended.  Take these young MPs out of the House and you might as well shut the doors.  They guarantee prosperous and safe lives for all of our children just by being there.So to Russ, I don’t say “be careful,” but “remain strong and committed to your country and your dear ones.”  The moment people attempt to remove the travel privilege of permitting a parent to see their children, then you might as well say farewell to great and qualified mothers of young children in the House of Commons, in every party. And we need more women in Parliament.My children are proud of what I do, and hopefully they’ll love their country as much as I.  But last Friday night, as I put them to bed, we all prayed for Russ and his beleaguered family.  I am proud to serve in the House with him, and the others, and my faith isn’t worth a thing if I can’t fight for the right of a citizen to serve his country and his children at the same time.  Brave on, Russ.