Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons of the NDP has had to find a little extra room in his constituency offices this week. Simons is hosting a pair of legislative interns – Rowan Laird and David Macauley.
Every January the B.C. Legislative Internship Program takes in a new batch of recent university grads. After spending four weeks at one of the government ministries, they move on to work with one of the party caucuses.
The program runs until June, and Simons is an enthusiastic supporter. “I think it’s a good opportunity for people to see how the system works and to see how they can be non-partisan interns in a very partisan atmosphere,” he said. “They’ll do research for us, and it’ll be research that is directed by our research department, but they can see where the partisan part starts and ends.”
Although the internship program is non-partisan, Laird and Macauley have noticed a bit of an upside to being assigned to the opposition – they’re working more closely with the individual MLAs on things like research, preparation for Question Period, and the budget estimates. The estimates are the nitty gritty details behind the budget, and members of the opposition shadow cabinet get to question the ministers on them.
“We take pride in our work, but the work we do is always with an eye toward the fact we’re non-partisan. So it’s more about the integrity of the work, and the integrity of the questions, than taking a particular side,” Laird explained.
“Good governance doesn’t have to be a partisan issue,” Macauley added.
Laird and Macauley are the only interns this session who majored in history, and they’ve discovered it gives them a different perspective on the work than the interns who focused solely on political science.
“When we’re preparing notes on issues and different things, a lot of that is providing context. So it’s looking back, providing a timeline. It might not be going back 150 years, but maybe five, 10 years.” Macauley said.
Simons also said the opportunity to spend time in this riding exposes the interns to a cross-section of issues that matter across the province.
“I think it’s a great program,” he said. “I love it when interns choose the Sunshine Coast, because I think, really, we’re a microcosm of the province. We have issues that are important to rural areas, urban areas, suburban areas even. You get a mix of all sorts of issues and topics.”
A lot has been made of the notion that most young people are disengaging from the political process, but Laird doesn’t think so.
“I’m not sure if it’s always true,” she said. “Most of the people I know, they definitely care. They care about voting. In the federal election we saw some of the highest young voter turnout we’ve ever had, so I think things are shifting.”
Data released this week by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations backs that up. It claims just over 50 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 25 voted in last October’s federal election. It was around 39 per cent in 2011.
As for whether being legislative interns is a stepping stone toward getting into politics themselves some day, Laird and Macauley aren’t sure.
“The internship has definitely made me consider it more than I ever thought I would,” Laird said.
“Some of the interns certainly express a strong interest,” Macauley said. “For myself, it is a possible interest, but I don’t foresee it for a long, long time. But, if at some point I was drawn back in, or felt compelled to run [for office] then I think it would be fabulous [to have this experience]. I think it’s been really interesting seeing what the work looks like on a day-to-day basis for MLAs.”
