Round table : the changing role of a legislators.

• Author: Stiles, Wally

One of the sessions at the Twenty-Seventh Canadian Regional Seminar of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association featured a discussion of the changing role of Members of Parliament and provincial legislators. The following extracts from the discussion briefly describes how the work of a legislator has changed in recent years. Wally Stiles represents Petitcodiac in the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly; Don Boudria represents Glengarry-Prescott Russell in the House of Commons; Bob Delaney represents Mississaugua West in the Ontario Legislative Assembly, Yvonne Jones represents Cartwright-L'Anse Au Clair in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly; Lloyd Snelgrove represents Vermillion-Lloydminster in the Alberta legislative Assembly, Judy Streatch represents Chester-St. Margaret's in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and Alana DeLong represents Calgary-Bow in the Alberta Legislative Assembly.

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Wally Stiles (New Brunswick): I should preface my remarks by noting that I come from a rural riding and sit on the Government side of the House. In my opinion rural MLAs are subject to a much broader range of constituent concerns due to the broad geographic area they represent.

In New Brunswick we recently received a report from the Commission on Legislative Democracy. One entire section was devoted to enhancing the role of the MLA. The Commission pointed out that in theory there are three roles--as trustees, as delegates or as party advocates.

In the trustee role the legislator relies on his or her own judgment even if this conflicts with wishes of own constituents. As a delegate the legislators reflects the wishes of the constituents even if that conflicts with his or her own personal views. The political role is to act as advocate and defender for your political party. At various times we probably perform all of these roles although we may attach greater or less importance to each of them.

Representative government goes back several hundred years but much has changed in our respective provinces since we adopted our present institutions. Governing is much more complex and the issues are much more far reaching. Legislation and regulation are more comprehensive, and touch our lives more than ever.

Society has also become more complex. We have diverse voices and they demand to be heard. Regional and linguistic issues all require attention. The media has had a great impact on government and on politics in general. It plays a large role in deciding how we are perceived and what decisions are taken.

New technology like the cellular phone and the internet...