Hill Times column by Jacquie LaRocque - Advice for political staffers: whatever desk you’re in, treat it like YOU.inc
Parliament gets a restart this week, and returns to what is highly likely to be an uncertain session as parties negotiate their priorities and figure out how to conduct legislative business. As a former trade communications director to Jim Peterson in Paul Martin’s minority government from 2004-2006, something is — eerily? — familiar to me as Parliamentarians “return” to the Hill and their staff hastily get briefings and notes together.
Many things have changed in the life of a ministerial staffer in a decade and a half: social media did not dictate the news cycle, not all Ministers used their smartphone let alone tweeted about public policy, and caucus meetings weren’t done over Zoom. But there are many things that haven’t — the long arduous hours obsessing over the right word to put in a press release, making sure there were no international incidents with hot mics and attending a minimum of 10 meetings a day with journos, stakeholders, public servants and other colleagues.
Being a senior staffer was one of the best educations I got in my entire career, and despite the obvious demanding role, it was one of the best times of my life. I’ve taken what I learned during this time into every job I’ve had since — including as a small business owner, entrepreneur, lobbyist and as a mentor — and to find the common good in public policy for Canadians.
Engaging daily with today’s competent staffers, it’s hard to think about what I could teach them, but since Kate Malloy asked, I humbly give you the following six things I’ve learned about surviving the political staff life.