Doherty Rejects Four-day Week For MPs
Prince George, B.C. – The federal political parties have been asked to survey their caucuses in Ottawa on the issue of perhaps putting an end to Friday sittings in the House of Commons.
A House committee is exploring several ideas to make parliament more family-
Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty, who has one of the longest travel times of any sitting MP, says he is absolutely not in favour of cutting Fridays and moving to a four-day week. “First and foremost I think that we need to be spending as much time as we can to be effective, whether its in a riding or in Ottawa. We signed up for the long days and the travel back and forth.”
“I can personally say that I am not for a shorter work week. I think we should be working as many hours as we need to in Ottawa so that we can be as effective as we can back in our riding. Now, that being said, I do take my Fridays, as much as I can. I leave Friday afternoon and I get back home very often at midnight, sometimes later if flights are delayed and I spend my Saturdays in the riding and then travel back to Ottawa on the Sundays.”
Doherty says it goes with the job. “For me, it is what we signed up for. We have at least a week per month that we’re in the riding and I really think Canadians, the people that elect us, expect us to be working.”
The House committee notes that all parties have indicated they want parents of young children to run for parliament but also says that the life of a parliamentarian can take a heavy toll on their family. Doherty says “In doing this I understand the toll that it takes on the families, it is a long day but that’s what we signed up for and it makes the time that we spend in our riding all that much sweeter, too.”
Doherty also says he doesn’t know how you would be able to split Friday work hours up and tack them onto the other four work days of the week. “My days are jam-packed, I’m in my office at 7 am every day and I have meetings back-to-back-to-back-to-back. Then we sit in the house and then I have meetings into the evening. I get back to my apartment very often at 9:30, 10 o’clock at night, which then includes reading that I do for the following day’s meetings. So I’m not sure where other MPs feel we can slot those times in.”
“But again, I think leaving the week the way that it is and maybe being a little more effective in our time management I think that that’s probably something we should be looking at. We’re chock-a-block full and that extra day allows me to maybe hold some committee meetings, meet with some other constituents that are in the riding or work on some files so it’s an important day.”
Doherty says while many of his Conservative caucus colleagues feel as he does on the issue it is by no means unanimous. “I can only talk about my colleagues that I’ve spoken with and indeed that’s not all of them but I can tell you that the majority feel the same, that we have been elected to work and a four-day work week, that’s not what Canadians expect out of their elected officials. For me it’s a 24 hours, seven days-a-week role, and it’s the reason why we answer emails at one o’clock in the morning and try to be as responsive to our constituents as best we can.”
“Prior to getting elected, when we first started talking about this, I met with my family and we said look, this isn’t a Monday-to-Friday job and it is a 24 hours-a-day role. It’s something that we take very seriously and I am honoured to serve our region.”
Meantime, in December the Board of Internal Economy, which controls the spending of Parliament, passed a measure to increase MP’s office budgets by 20% effective April 1st. Each MP will be able to spend another $57,690 beyond their present budget of $288,450 for a total of $346,140.
As well, all members of parliament now make a base salary of $167,400. Extra duties, such as being Prime Minister, a Cabinet Minister, Minister of State, Party Leader and many other positions bring in extra money.
The travel budget for MPs this year goes up 5% to a maximum $30,000 a year from the current $28,600 for each member.
Other officers of the House, such as the Speaker, deputy speakers, party leaders and their caucus officers are also getting budget increases and when all is said and done the total hike comes to $25 million.
On the MP budget hike Doherty says “that just came across our desks Friday and so I think again Canadians expect us to be financially prudent and fiscally responsible. I think we need to make sure how we’re managing our budgets at all times. Because of the nature of our riding and my travel back and forth I know my costs are fairly high, but we’ve done everything in our power to make sure that we’re maximizing the budgets where we can.”
“For me, whether it’s in travel or in our constituent’s offices or riding offices I’d have to see where the dollars fall out, but I think it’s incumbent of every MP to make sure that we are maximizing every dollar that we have.”
“Again, it’s the taxpayers’ dollars so we want to make sure that we’re not being wasteful.”
Comments
I just might give all the negative types on here a heart attack this morning
I fully agree with MR. Doherty I for one don’t see why they should have even more time off than they already get its hard enough to get some of them to show up on a regular basis as it is. They are well paid for what time they spend in parliament and “riding” and get considerably more time off than your average canadian worker per year let alone the “perks” that they get.
I agree Dearth
Sounds to me that Mr. Doherty has very valid comments. Long busy days, loads of travel time to get back to his riding; all comes with the job. Time management seems to be an issue for some of these parliamentarians.
Actually think it sounds like a ‘thankless’ job; but someone has to do it!
So we are paying there flights back and forth every weekend on the good old tax payers $$$$. When I worked on the road for 30 years on weekends off every weekend nobody offered to pay my way home every weekend. Only every 20 days plus was it paid for.
The theory is that MPs do part of their work at home in their ridings, meeting with constituents and keeping on eye on how things are going. When you worked on the roads, the trips home were entirely for your benefit, not your employer’s.
Did you travel back and forth across the country, having to endear time zone changes, airport security, hours in a spam can. Please expand on your thoughts why he should pay?
Grandstanding on Todd’s part. If the Liberals want the 4 day week they’ll get it. The real test will be to see how many Fridays he works once it passes. Reminds of of the time the BC Liberals voted for a pay raise and the NDP refused to take the money. For about a week.
We all work 238 days per year (on avg) if you take out two weeks vacation time. These clowns have never sat in Parliament any more than 197 days, and that was back in 1973. They haven’t sat more the 150 days since 1990 and it’s been getting progressively less each year.
The average sitting time in Parliament for the past ten years (2006-2015) was 109 days.
The average sitting time in Parliament for the first ten years of records I could find (1968-1977) was 155 days.
Now they’re looking at more time off on Parliament Hill? Give me a break. They’re already working a month less than they used to.
Gecko so you are saying they only work 109 days a year, really, I mean really!
some of them even less…
Other than the 31 Cabinet Ministers, the rest just sit their bobbing their collective heads in unison. Yes they might attend the occasional committee meeting, but I would say the other 153 have it pretty easy.
Yes… I mean really.
Ya, you can pretty much say all you want, to make yourself appear concerned, but the truth is, he really has little to no say in what happens in parliament. Sorta reminds me of a local politician we have that looked like he was always going with the popular stance against council knowing full well his vote was only one and it wouldn’t change the outcome, but he thought it made him look like a man of the people. But, to his credit, it did appear to fool a lot of people.
It sounds like they are trying to decide if they want to end Friday sittings in the house, not take Friday’s off.
So I guess my thought on this is what would be better? To have MP’s sitting in the house on Friday “debating” issues that come up using pre-prepared questions and responses, or having them sitting in their ridings talking to constituents, providing direct assistance on various things and getting the “pulse” of things in their part of the country so that they can do their work in Ottawa more effectively?
No. The article clearly states that they are suggesting this Friday off to “make it easier for MPs to fly home on weekends to spend time with their families”. They are not working, nor are they getting the constituent pulse at 35,000 feet.
I’m no conservative, but I’ve been pretty impressed with Todd with the exception of some tax-related propaganda that had been mailed to me.
Todd seems to actually care about the riding. Nice change when you compare Harris. Would have been nice to have one of our ridings Liberal so we get more attention, but kudos to Todd. Regardless of party lines, he appears to be honest and open.
“Sorta reminds me of a local politician we have that looked like he was always going with the popular stance against council knowing…”
If the popular stance (opinion of the public) was openly and decidedly against what the council was about to do, shouldn’t the other councilors have paid attention to what the public wanted, rather than ramming something through regardless of what the public wanted?
Has the “Dike” fiasco slipped your mind already? Haldi Road? Seems to me the only thing that stopped either of those were either direct court challenges or a reverse referendum because of the huge uproar made by people. I recall one of the councillers saying he wouldn’t support squashing the dike plans if the referendum fell short by only 1 vote. That doesn’t sound to me like council listening to the majority.
Sounds like he already takes Fridays off from being in the house. I wonder what the attendance is now for the members on Fridays.
Maybe if they increase the number of days parliament sits to say 125 per year, then there would be no difference.
Poor guy . Now he’ll have to spend three days in his riding a week instead of just two . I can understand his consternation. How you gonna keep him back on the farm now that he’s seen Ottawa .
If they all get the same travel allowance despite the difference in distance to their riding or home, what happens to the excess for the MPs that are close to Ottawa? Do they get to keep the money, or do they get to travel first class all the time or? It doesn’t seem fair that they all get the same amount for travel.
He is just flapping his gums.. Means nothing.
If he had been in favour of a 4 day week, some of you would have called him a bum and no one would have agreed with him. Tough crowd
4 day work week…sure if they take a %20 pay cut
“I have meetings back to back to back to back”
Must have taken over James Moore’s Tinder account !
Another one of these situations where there is a statement which most people immediately gravitates to without knowing sufficient information to do so. In this case it revolves around the sitting time for the House of Commons.
The Parliamentary web page has two pieces of ambiguous information about what the current (I am assuming it is current since it does not provide a date on the page) sitting time is.
One states the following schedule for when the House convenes:
Mondays – 11:00am (8 hours)
Tuesdays – 10:00am (9 hours)
Wednesdays – 2:00pm (5 hours)
Thursdays – 10:00am (9 hours)
Fridays – 10:00am (4.5 hours)
On Monday through Thursday, the Chamber usually adjourns by 7:00pm. The time in brackets above is the total time span based on the normal adjournment time. That includes mid meal period any washroom breaks and “coffee” breaks)
On Fridays it rises at 2:30pm (so 4.5 hours minus some sort of lunch break I assume)
That then works out to around 35 plus or minus hrs in the House when it is in session. Take out an hour or more from meals on M,T,T and we have an average 33 hour House presence.
Work weeks for most people range between 35 to 37.5 to 40 hours. That excludes lunch breaks but included coffee breaks. How much of that time any given MP actually sits there, god only knows. It is obvious from watching bits and pieces of the parliamentary channel, the doors are revolving doors on both sides of the house and they seem to be quite busy whenever I have watched it for 10 minutes or so. Staff and MPs are coming in and out all the time. Only when the bell sounds for a vote does the chamber really fill up.
The ambiguity comes in when I read the following on another page titled “a day in the life of an MP”: “While Parliament is in session, MPs typically spend Monday to Thursday in Ottawa, and Fridays and weekends in their riding, although this can change depending on their meeting schedules and on Parliament’s business.”
As with most web sites, the internal information often conflicts.
The other thing to remember is that MPs are salaried employees the same as managers. They are not workers who receive hourly wages and “punch clocks” when they are at work.
Professionals typically work on billable hours which they charge their clients. Those hours include travel time. Some may charge 50% of their normal hourly rate for travel time, but they are billable hours.
MPs have specific times they have to sit in the House, especially for critical votes. In addition, they often take turns to sit behind their leaders so that the House looks full when the camera is aimed at those who respond to questions so that all that ape-like desk thumping can be seen.
Finally given 20 days of vacation a year plus 10 statutory holidays there are about 230 working days a year for middle to senior salaried employees as well as those who get hourly wages and have been on the job for many years.
The House seems to sit plus or minus 100 days a year. The main effect I would see is that the total work for an MP who is conscientious about spending time working for both his/her constituents and the party would not change. If the work of the House does not become more efficient (which is something nobody seem to talk about) then there may be more travel time required.
After all is said and done, nobody is forcing anyone to fly or drive back home Thursday evening or Friday morning. Those who wish can stay for all or part of Friday to work with staff and others in Ottawa and those who have arranged for housing in Ottawa while the House is sitting are not forced to fly home every weekend either. We have amazing communication tools these days.
The short version?
Much ado about nothing.
It is about time that the Feds look how to work more effectively. A 4-day week for the House would be only one of a dozen or so items on a list to look at.
did rona let him say this?..He is jus a backbencher gasbag…like the zimmer….
Trudeau only working 4 days, good gig.
If you want our politicians to work then have a camera on each of them during question period. It’s disgusting how they act.
We have to learn that it is not how much you work, it is how smart you work.
I realize that parliamentary debate has traditionally been what it is all about. However, is it really the best way to debate issues by having prepared statements read by someone who may not have actually written them and then thumping on desks or heckling depending on who one supports?
Perhaps it is time to work towards something which is more effective than 300+ men and women sitting facing each other in what can only be construed as an adversarial layout.
At least the congress of the USA and the Bundestag of Germany are sitting in semicircular fashion with the speaker at the center more symbolic of working together rather than opposing each other.
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