This week I thought readers might enjoy reading about what life is like working in a Member of Parliament’s constituency office.  I have been considering writing about this subject for some time but the past week brought the topic to the forefront in spades.

I would like to review a seven day period beginning with Saturday, October 20th and the passport clinic my staff and I conducted at the Cornwall Square.  During the 3 hour clinic and the next 5 days (Monday to Friday, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm) our office processed and finalized a total of 294 passport applications.  Not only did we finalize 294 applications we worked on a total of an additional 500 over the same seven day period.  The five hundred unfinished applications are at various levels of completion.

Passports are only one of many services offered by our office and my staff can attest to this fact by virtue of the additional 384 constituents who visited our office in person.  Issues dealt  with at the constituency office run the total gamut from immigration to birth certificate applications.

Constituents, often frustrated by trying to deal with various levels of beauracracy turn to my staff for help in accessing government services.  Many seniors come to my office as the last resort, after trying to get answers from various automated telephone answering services that seemed designed to prevent the caller form speaking to a human.

Other constituents have questions about Income Tax, CPP, Old Age Security, Employment Insurance.  Some are just trying to understand what a particular letter from one government department or other is trying to tell them.  The general public does not communicate with the federal government on a regular basis and find the process somewhat intimidating.  The staff at my office tries to make the process less intimidating.

Many people choose to contact my office by phone, email or regular mail rather than stop by in person.  Last week 234 people contacted the office by phone, 59 by regular mail and 291 emails were received.  The bulk of the communications we receive fall into the categories mentioned above, but often constituents make suggestions or criticism about government policies, actions or inactions.  Where appropriate these suggestions and complaints are forwarded to the various Ministers.  All comments, negative as well as positive are important to me.  They help me to know if our government and myself are on the right track.

In closing, I would like to say it is impossible to list everything that happens in a MP’s office in a typical week but I can say that I have one of the most efficient constituency offices in the country because of a remarkable staff of 3 dedicated ladies.  Claire Lavallee, Francine Lepage and Denise Jalbert (working 20 hours per week) are to be commended for dealing with the busiest constituency office in the county in a very professional and proficient manner.

Thank you ladies!