It’s not the first time I’ve written on this topic, and it certainly won’t be the last. Yesterday’s column by David Akin about making MPs continue to work on Fridays has me itching to reiterate a few points, even if some of Akin’s writing style makes me cringe a little. (Seriously, PROC is an “obscure but important” committee? Really?) Akin makes good points in that we are already seeing a greater diversity in people running and getting elected, and more women running and getting elected than ever before, and that people who put their name on the ballot know that the job entails actually being in Ottawa five days a week for roughly half the year. And really, that’s one of the points that makes me a bit crazy when we keep circling back to these discussions about making parliament “family friendly.” Parliament is not just another workplace, and you can’t apply the same standards to it that you would with any other job. We all know that a great deal of sacrifice is involved with the job, which is why we compensate MPs fairly well for it (though one could quite easily argue that they are underpaid, though populist sentiment means that argument will never win the day). Even more crazy making were MPs on Procedure and House Affairs committee saying things like “It’s special being here,” while trying to figure out how to vote from their riding or telecommute to the job in Ottawa, never mind that the job involves being in Ottawa because it relies on building personal relationships. No, it’s not “special” to be in Ottawa – it’s the job you signed on for. Being present to vote is what you signed on for. If you didn’t want to be in Ottawa but still serve the public, you could have run for local city council, but no, you wanted to play a federal role. That means being in Ottawa. It doesn’t mean being here year-round, and clearly it’s not given the growing number of constituency weeks, but constituency work is not what your job is. Your job is to hold the government to account, which means being present, debating, reading the Estimates and the Public Accounts, doing committee work, grilling ministers and department staff, and engaging with stakeholders as part of that job. All of that is done here. Sure, helping people with passport forms is all well and good, but it’s not actually your job. In fact, the growing MP role as civil service ombudsman is a distressing turn of events, because it starts to subtly politicise the system, but it also takes away from the accountability role. We are already in a crisis of civic literacy in this country. Having MPs justify the fact that they don’t feel the need to be in Ottawa to do their jobs, and to wrap that justification up in the flag of being family-friendly is a problem. Yes, it’s tough, and marriages break up with too much frequency, but the system already bends over backwards to accommodate spouses and families. The reality remains, however, that this is not a job that you can do from home, and candidates needs to go into it with their eyes open rather than making excuses to shirk their duties once they get here.

Good reads:

• The government publicly posted the details on the 2012 budget cuts that the PBO took the government to court for (and lost).
• The public safety minister is outraged over the latest RCMP harassment allegations, but hasn’t yet ordered an independent investigation.
• It looks like Shared Services Canada is facing more delays in migrating data centres. Try to look surprised, everyone!
• The defence minister says there are no plans to reverse Conservative cuts to defence spending, while the Chief of Defence Staff says he’s not tailoring the definition of combat to suit the Liberal government.
• Dominic LeBlanc indicates the position on whipping the doctor-assisted dying vote may be softening.
• Deep in election preparation mode, Brad Wall is lashing out against a non-existent national carbon tax (and Conservative MPs from that province followed suit).
• There is talk about setting up a carbon pricing working group after the first ministers’ meeting next month, but provinces are bristling a bit over jurisdiction.
• Former Bloc leader Mario Beaulieu says he won’t run for the position again.
• The death benefit fund for public servants is in surplus because they’re living longer.
• Peter Loewen wonders if we spend too much time worrying about the “democratic deficit” federally when the provinces have major governance issues.
• Kady O’Malley offers a primer on the final phase of the Duffy trial, which resumes next week.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at how the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg is helping come up with vaccines for diseases like Ebola and possibly Zika.

There are questions about how appropriate it was for a Calgary MP to keep his six-figure transition allowance after retiring from provincial politics.

Maclean’s puts six MPs through the 60-second challenge.

Think today's situation is as bad as 2008? At least for employment losses, it isn't even close. #ableg pic.twitter.com/JQeQUxC1wM

— Trevor Tombe (@trevortombe) February 19, 2016