Who Should Run for Political Office?
Three events in the last week have me thinking about the future of our political system in Canada and the people who will steer it going forward.
Disincentives to Run for Public Office
The first was an article in the Toronto Star about former MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti falling into homelessness since leaving office. The second was the harassment Prime Minister Trudeau received in British Columbia while on his Christmas holidays with children. The third was a surprising email I never thought I would receive asking if I would be interested in running as a political candidate in the upcoming Ontario Election.
In the case of Mr. Berardinetti, I received a flurry of texts from former colleagues of mine and his about how shocking his personal circumstances had become. Concern broke out beyond the political bubble to other commentators who were shocked that a politician could go from public service to public shelter in so little time.
In the case of Mr. Trudeau, those who did not join the pile-on held up the treatment he received as an example of why “good people” don’t run for office — when they do, they are mistreated for simply doing their jobs in a way that fails to achieve universal approval.
In the case of me declining to run for public office —while it’s not the first time I’ve been told I’d be a good fit for public life — it is the first time the ask has been made through “official” party channels. However, I have never wanted to be a politician. And as a former political staffer, I’ve seen the job of an MPP, Minister, and Premier up close. Very few aspects of the day-to-day work of these jobs appeals to me. I much prefer to grind out solutions in the background and support the work of those who do bravely choose to put their name on a ballot.
Who Normally Gets Nominated
But each of these events did get me thinking about how we think about candidates for public office. When political parties cast around for potential candidates, they usually think first and foremost about their professional resumes. They want candidates from impressive political backgrounds, who hold professional designations like doctor or lawyer, or who have a long history of public-facing public service, such as a coach or rotary club member. Anything that will make a voter believe they are especially qualified to represent them.
Sometimes they prioritize organizational skill and party loyalty. They want candidates who already know how to fundraise, who are comfortable canvassing every day of a campaign, and who have deep personal networks that will bring out volunteers and donors in droves to support their campaign. Or they want someone who has been a long-time supporter and party activist because they will have experience with all those things I just mentioned while having the additional asset of always wanting to put the party agenda first, even if it might be at odds with their personal views or those of their constituents.
These two approaches tend to result in two types of candidates — those who sound great on paper and those who will always toe the party line. What these two approaches often fail to achieve is an elected body that reflects the people it represents and shares their life experiences in a way that can deliver real change on their behalf.
Politicians and Expertise
Legal Expertise
Traditionally, when you ask people what skills a politician should possess, many will start by saying that a legal background is crucial for a person tasked with creating, reviewing, and passing legislation. This is usually a shortcut for lawyers. And there is certainly no shortage of lawyers in politics.
However, most legislation that becomes law is passed by the sitting government, which has a team of expert ministerial lawyers on hand to help craft laws. These folks largely crafted The Rental Fairness Act, 2017, (which I got to help pass) that instituted province-wide rent control in Ontario. It would have been unreasonable to expect politicians and political staff — who tend towards being generalists rather than experts — to craft legislation that would impact such a complex sector as housing.
Likewise, Opposition members who propose bills are able to consult expert legal staff at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to help iron out the kinks of their proposed legislation before it is ever tabled in the legislative chamber. I worked with these folks extensively ahead of helping the MP I worked for to write and unanimously pass the Ontario Flag Day Act, 2015.
Financial Expertise
If legal expertise is not required, most people would agree that political candidates should have some kind of financial expertise. After all, they will be managing or at least voting on billions of dollars of government expenditures. However, here too, the professional public service has a great deal of expertise. I got to see that expertise up close when I worked for an MPP who served on the Board of Internal Economy at the Legislative Assembly and as the Parliamentary Assistant to the President of the Treasury Board.
In Ontario, the Office of the Assembly provides non-partisan support to the Legislative Assembly and the politicians who serve in it. The elected Speaker is the head of this office and the Chair of the Board of Internal Economy (BOIE), which oversees all spending by the Assembly. That spending includes all the resources that go into legislative business, security for the building and grounds, food services, IT services, administrative services such as payroll, and much more.
The board also reviews the “estimates,” which provide legislators with a roadmap of the expected revenue and expenses of every government department, agency, board and commission for the given year. The review of the estimates is part of the annual budget process that gives a government the authority to spend tax dollars and acts as an important fiscal check on the power of the current government.
The Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) is a Cabinet-level office within the government that performs a similar role to the BOIE; however, instead of overseeing the finances of the Assembly, it oversees the finances of the government. It is responsible for overseeing government spending decisions, carrying out audits, managing the labour relationship between the government and public sector unions, improving government accountability measures, and modernizing government.
In addition to serving as a government office, TBS also supports a functioning board called the Management Board of Cabinet. It is chaired by the President of the Treasury Board with a membership drawn from select (and often senior) members of the government’s cabinet. The board is tasked with reviewing major spending decisions headed to the broader cabinet and ensuring that the government is achieving value for the money it spends.
When the politician I worked for served on the board in his role as Parliamentary Assistant, the focus of both the ministry and the board was improved accountability measures, modernizing cabinet processes for a digital world, and pursuing a government-wide agenda called “Program Review, Renewal and Transformation”. This last item was meant to improve government efficiency and efficacy by going beyond the usual annual review of government spending in order to do a deep dive into decades-old programs that might no longer serve their intended purpose.
All of this is to say that between the financial experts on staff at the Legislative Assembly and a ministry full of financial experts within the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Ministry of Finance, there is ample expertise in place to support prospective politicians who are almost guaranteed to lack that expertise themselves.
Professional Expertise
If we move beyond legal and financial experience, many people will suggest that politicians should have expertise in the issues that are managed by the government and voted on in legislatures: healthcare, education, energy extraction and use, our climate and environment, and the economy. While this expertise can be valuable, it can lead to unintended consequences when it's found in politicians: experiential bias, stakeholder-related tunnel vision, and professional ego.
Experiential bias can happen when one professional from a broader field of experts takes on the role of minister. Let’s use the example of the Ministry of Health. If a family doctor is elected and then tapped to serve as the Minister of Health, they will surely bring a lot of experience to the role. However, they may not have insight into the health sector from the perspective of surgeons, emergency room doctors, nurses, paramedics, dentists, optometrists, psychiatrists or psychologists, pharmacists, or personal support workers.
Likewise, a politician with a background in any of the professions I just mentioned can have tunnel vision when it comes to the stakeholders they meet with and the demands they bring with them. A family doctor-turned-politician will likely and appropriately want to prioritize the ongoing family doctor shortage. When they do, will they do so from the vantage point of a former family doctor or a patient-first advocate?
Their experience on the administrative and service end of medicine is valuable and can lead to insights that help retain doctors during the shortage. However, they are ultimately responsible for prioritizing the patient experience over the business and labour priorities of their former colleagues and will need to be able to separate their past roles from their current duties.
Finally, all of this past experience can sometimes lead to newly-minted ministers assuming they already know the job inside and out. They assume past familiarity with a sector means they don’t need onboarding to the file they have been tasked with managing. As a staffer, I have had to warn politicians about this potential pitfall. Some listened, some didn’t. Those who didn’t eventually learned the lesson the hard way: listen more than you speak and remain open-minded, even about the things you think you already know.
What Makes a Good Politician
I have had the luck of working for a number of talented politicians who were also deeply good people. I suspect they are a major reason why, while I’m often disappointed by our politics, I never lose hope about its possibilities. I think they are also why I like to think I have a good grasp on what makes an effective politician, not just in terms of political gamesmanship but in terms of life-changing impact.
Have a Good Reason to Run
There’s a saying in politics that some people run for office to be someone rather than to do something. I’ve met a number of politicians who fit this description. You can usually tell who they are by asking them why they decided to run for office or what they would like to achieve in office. Usually, their answers are vague and full of platitudes instead of full of certainty and a list of concrete things they want to get done.
If you ask the public, they believe that most politicians fall into this camp. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that a majority of Americans believe all or most elected officials run for office because of the pay. They see them as also primarily seeking out other side benefits like fame and the ability to create a foundation for a future run for higher office. 30% of those surveyed believe that few or none entered public office to address key issues, while 43% believe that few or none do so to serve the public.
Service for the sake of service isn’t a bad thing, of course. And some people do enter public office because they truly want to improve the world around them in a more general way. However, I believe the politician who enters the political arena without a list of concrete priorities is less likely to deliver concrete improvements once in office. A political term goes by in a flash and you have to be ready to hit the ground running. If you’re still workshopping priorities after an election, you’re likely to run out of time to achieve much.
Fill an Experiential Gap
I’ve always believed there’s a little bit of ego involved in running for public office because making the decision to run requires you to believe that the missing ingredient to solving our societal ills is your full-time involvement. Having said that, we know that it takes a woman being asked to run seven times, on average, before she will agree to be a candidate. It’s clear for many of the people who end up being candidates that they are more likely to ask themselves, “Why me?” than “Why not me?”.
Despite this, those who ask, “Why not me?” often seem to have a lot in common. Over 1,000 candidates ran for office during the 2015 federal election. According to an analysis by CTV, 27% of them came from business backgrounds, 22% from political and government backgrounds, and 11% from legal backgrounds. The most underrepresented backgrounds? 2% came from the agricultural sector, 2% came from labour organizations and unions, 2% from journalism, 2% from police and military, 2% were students, 1% came from the trades or manufacturing, and 1% came from the arts sector.
In addition to clear professional gaps, we also have clear representational gaps. In 2023, Statistics Canada reported that women now make up just over 30% of elected representatives at all levels of political life across Canada. This number is disappointing when you consider it sat at 20% over a quarter century ago. It becomes even more disappointing still when you remember that women make up over 50% of Canada’s overall population.
Much was made of the fact that the federal election in 2021 ushered in the largest number of racialized MPs in Canada’s history, totalling just over 15% of all MPs elected to the House of Commons. However, according to data from the 2021 Cenusus, racialized people make up around one-quarter of Canada’s total population. Here again, our politicians do not accurately reflect our population.
Finally, beyond typical demographic concerns, there are also lifestyle elements to consider when determining whether your experiences are currently missing from a legislative body. Take housing status. It’s well-known that Canada is facing a housing shortage. Homelessness is on the rise, rents are increasing at double the pace of inflation, and Canada’s housing starts (especially in Ontario) do not invite much hope that we are about to turn a corner.
Yet most of our political class are not personally facing this struggle. In 2022, an analysis by The Maple found that 40% of sitting MPs are not just homeowners but landlords. Their 2023 analysis of provincial politicians found that over 18% of MPPs in Ontario are also landlords. While they enjoy their rental income in addition to their publicly funded salaries, the percentage of renters who can comfortably pay their rent declined from 48% in November 2020 to 33% in November 2022 — a whopping 15% change in just two years.
Community Fit
You can be armed with the right reasons to run and fill a gap in the demographics of those already serving, but you still have to consider the community you wish to represent. While you will never agree on everything with all of the voters in your riding, ward, or district, it’s a good idea not to be in direct opposition to a majority of the community if you want to claim a mandate for representing them. Likewise, it’s worth considering whether you would be the best representative of an area with a majority group you don’t personally belong to.
In the 2024 Don Valley West by-election, candidate Anthony Furey placed second. This was despite accusations of racist rhetoric in his work as a newspaper columnist and the fact that, according to the City’s ward profile data, racialized people make up 47% of the ward’s population. He had surged in the polls at one time, but multiple candidates ended up dropping out of the race and endorsing the progressive frontrunner. They did this in order to stop a candidate that they saw as ill-suited to representing such a diverse riding.
Then there’s the remote northern provincial riding of Mushkegowuk — James Bay. I was born in the riding at the hospital on Moose Factory Island and have visited a few times for pleasure and for work since moving south from Moosonee. When the Ontario Liberal Party struggled to find a candidate for the riding during the 2014 provincial election, some joked that my ties to the riding meant I could stand in at the last moment if needed. But it’s a riding that is 27% Indigenous and 60% Francophone, two things I am not. Could I still ably represent the people of the riding? Maybe. I’m competent, a quick learner, and can point out each of the local communities on a map. But I still would not be my first choice for the job.
Understand the Job
While many people like to dream about what it would be like to be a politician, very few people actually have first-hand knowledge of what the job really entails. It’s almost never about making moving speeches at a historic moment like you might see in the movies or on an episode of The West Wing.
You will spend most of your time at the creaky legislative building in a cramped office (sometimes with no air conditioning, walls full of mold or dead rodents, and lead in the water supply). There will be a near-constant reading of briefing materials and correspondence from your constituents. You will get to make speeches, but they will often be delivered to just a handful of your colleagues in the legislative chamber during something called ‘House Duty’ — the physical rotation of politicians through the chamber to ensure there is always a quorum.
You’ll meet with stakeholders and public servants as you consider legislation. In opposition, you’ll take your marching orders from the Leader’s Office. In Government, from the Premier’s Office or Prime Minister’s Office, as well as other authorities like the Government House Leader. You’ll likely be assigned to a committee where you will listen to testimony, grill speakers, and participate in votes before sending legislation back to the full legislature. There are usually stakeholder receptions every night filled with the same faces from the legislative ‘precinct’ and a rotation of the same menu items night after night.
If you’re in government, you may also become a Parliamentary Assistant (Parliamentary Secretary at the federal level) and have additional responsibilities added to your plate related to a specific ministry. Cabinet ministers must lead their entire ministry and work closely with a non-partisan public servant called a Deputy Minister and all their staff to move forward the priorities of the ministry and the government.
When the legislature isn’t sitting, you’ll head back home and catch up with your constituency staff and the more serious constituent concerns that require your presence to address. You’ll attend local events and be expected to build up the local association of your political party. That will include events, canvassing voters at their doors, and fundraising almost around the clock.
Some people love some or all of this work. I’ve known politicians who have told me they enjoy everything about the job. Some quickly realize they prefer the rush of the campaign to the drudgery of governance. Others hate campaigning but can’t wait to dig into legislation and the machinery of government. Most politicians who thrive tend to find enjoyment in most aspects of the job and are willing to hold their nose through the rest in order to keep doing it.
The Soft Skills of Politics and Public Service
While everything I’ve just mentioned is important, I think the most crucial thing to understand is that there are key soft skills that the most impactful politicians tend to possess. Rather than a law degree, certificates in recognition of public service, or a history of successful business leadership, the most impactful politicians are curious, listen to others, push back when necessary, and always remember why they sought public office in the first place.
When I asked former Premier Kathleen Wynne what she thought the magic formula might be, her answer summarized it perfectly: “Honesty, curiosity, humility, a genuine love of people and a fundamental belief in their goodness.”
You have to be willing to level with people. You also need to be willing to seek out new solutions you haven’t thought of before. You need to be able to recognize your own weaknesses and the fact that you won’t always have all the answers. And, perhaps most importantly of all, you have to want to go to bat for the people you represent every single day.
While that covers the relationship between a politician and the voters they represent, the Premier brought up another dynamic that many forget about when running for office — you’re ultimately part of a broader team. Even in municipal politics, where there are no political parties, you will need to learn to work with the other people who have been elected if you hope to get anything of value done. According to the Premier, this requires two additional skills — the ability to speak truth to power and a commitment to making common cause.
Too often in politics, people fall into groupthink, where they are unwilling to challenge the thinking of their broader team. Things that should be flagged don’t get flagged and mistakes happen because of it. Speaking truth to power, including the power of the collective, is an important element of political life. This can be especially difficult inside political movements where critical feedback can be seen at best as not being a team player and at worst as being traitorous to the overall “cause.”
However, the opposite phenomenon can also happen where people become so wrapped up in their personal viewpoints that they are unable to bridge divides, learn to compromise, and ultimately develop solutions that benefit everyone. There have been plenty of situations in my political career where I’ve become frustrated with a situation that has come up. In those moments, I always reminded myself that team leaders are looking for people who can rise above petty frustrations and “get the thing that needs doing done.” Voters look for the same thing and quickly tune out petty partisanship that does not serve them or their families.
The Hollowing Out of Democracy & Public Service
Globe and Mail journalist Doug Saunders recently penned an article about how 2024 was the “year of elections” where a majority of voters around the world cast ballots. In the article, he noted that despite this unprecedented participation in the electoral democracy, these votes actually resulted in “a decline in free societies,” otherwise known as “democratic backsliding.”
He goes on to reference a research report for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace called “Misunderstanding Democratic Backsliding” by authors Thomas Carothers and Brendan Hartnett. In it, they argue: “Backsliding is less a result of democracies failing to deliver than of democracies failing to constrain the predatory political ambitions and methods of certain elected leaders.”
Saunders goes on to argue that democracy-supporting political parties “should be fighting to put up better security fences to protect the constitution and prevent authoritarian-minded demagogues from seizing control of their parties and undermining their core values with angry fictions.”
That work begins with recruiting, nominating, and electing better candidates who can prevent authoritarian-minded politicians from gaining nominations, defeat those who are already in power, and create a new narrative for political office where those who seek it possess “honesty, curiosity, humility, a genuine love of people and a fundamental belief in their goodness.”
Theresa served as Director of Communications to the Deputy Premier of Ontario and has over a decade of experience working in Canadian politics.
