One house leads to another: by the numbers.

• Author: Gagnon, Jacques P.

The Parliament of Canada's PARLINFO database provides biographical information on each of the 4,214 MPs elected to the House of Commons and 925 senators appointed to the Senate from 1867 to the time of writing (late September 2014). (i) In addition to the politicians' federal political experience, the biographies include their provincial or territorial political experience, if any. This material inspired this research note on their overall parliamentary experience. (ii) At the individual level, these moves from one chamber to another help explain many parliamentarians' political longevity. At the collective level, this accounting reveals a certain upward, rather than downward, mobility: many more provincial legislators have become MPs and senators than the other way around.

Serving as both federal and provincial parliamentarians

859

individuals have served as members of provincial legislatures and as federal parliamentarians. These totals partly reflect the relative populations of the provinces and territories, but are mainly attributable to the different years in which they became part of Canada.

Hat Trick

(79)

provincial legislators have become MPs and then senators. The most unusual case is that of Fabian Manning. A Progressive Conservative member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly from 1993 to 2005, Manning resigned to be elected as a Conservative MP in 2006. After his defeat in the 2008 election, Manning was appointed as a senator in 2009. He then resigned from the Senate in 2011 to again run federally. But Manning was once more defeated in the May 2 election, only to be reappointed to the Senate 23 days later.

From Provincial Legislator to MP / Senator

(27)

started their political career before...