Who’s that in the back?

The House of Commons is like a hockey rink at times, with two sides — government and opposition — delivering verbal checks to each other, and a starting line of ministers facing off against their critic opponents. Past the big guns and the second and third lines, there's the backbench. These Members of Parliament often don't get a chance to shine in the national spotlight, with just the occasional memorable play — or private member's bill — ever making it to the highlights.

Ed Holder with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

While they may not get the media attention of a glamorous or scandalous cabinet minister, what do backbenchers do to keep their skates sharp when they're not on the ice? 

Newcomer to the ice

In the House of Commons chamber, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's seat is on the front line of the government side a third of the way down the aisle from the Speaker. To his left and right are Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and Environment Minister Jim Prentice. Five seats behind Harper and one to the left is Ed Holder.

Holder, 55, is a new Conservative MP, freshly elected in 2008 to represent London West in southwestern Ontario. He is a former insurance broker and executive who founded a company that later merged with a larger one in the 1990s, and he soon became president. Holder had previously run for federal office once, in 1993 as a Progressive Conservative, but finished a distant third.

During a normal week, Holder says his default schedule is committee meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Question Period every day, the party caucus meeting Wednesday morning, an assigned “duty day” when he must be in the House all day and assorted other caucus meetings — not to mention an assortment of legislative and interest-group meetings."I think when you're in the senior level of government, like a cabinet minister, you're stretched like Gumby."  —  Ed Holder, MP

A couple of seats away and a row forward is Patrick Brown, 31, a Conservative who has represented Barrie, Ont., since 2006.  A former two-term city councillor, Brown is a member of two committees, including the standing committee on health. He says committee work, in which groups of MPs study bills after they've passed second reading in the House, is what takes up a lot of his time.

“Legislation is introduced by a minister in the House, but the meat and potatoes of it, the study of it, is done in committee,” Brown says. He adds he usually spends about 10 hours a week on work for each committee.

Like most MPs, Holder spends nine months of the year in Ottawa while Parliament is in session, and the other three months back in his home riding. But it's those times at home, connecting with constituents, that Holder says are what he really sees his job as being about.

“I think if you're not a cabinet minister or a parliamentary secretary, you have an increased opportunity to do more constituent work,” he says. “I think when you're in the senior level of government, like a cabinet minister, you're stretched like Gumby.”MP Patrick Brown speaking April 25, 2009, on World Malaria Day.

Holder says that in his case, it's much easier for him to keep an ear to the ground in his own riding and be more personally involved with what's going on."Once upon a time, leaders of parties would look to their caucus to find out what's going on in the country." — Nelson Wiseman, political science professor

“I can't speak for cabinet ministers, but it seems to me they'd have to rely very heavily on their staff, and I think their constituents understand, I would hope they do, that they're not going to be around as much,” he says.

Change of play

But the role of MPs as a gauge for party leaders to measure opinion across the country has been diminishing, according to Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto and author of In Search of Canadian Political Culture.

“Once upon a time, leaders of parties would look to their caucus to find out what's going on in the country. 'Hey, you were back in your constituency over Christmas, what's the buzz?'” Wiseman says.

Instead, polling firms and new communication technologies such as Facebook have made it easier for political parties to effectively measure national opinions without relying so heavily on anecdotal evidence. According to Wiseman, this has been part of a gradual concentration of powers toward the party leaders and away from the caucuses.

“More power has gone into, in the government side, the Prime Minister's Office, and also to the leader on the opposition side,” he says.

Brown disagrees.

“I find our current prime minister is very interested in getting feedback from his members of caucus,” Brown says. “Generally, I write a note to the prime minister with my opinions on what I hear in my riding, and I know he reads them because he'll give me feedback, or call me, and communicate to me his thoughts on what I'm hearing.”

He says Conservative MPs work well together, regardless of seniority or position.

“In caucus, every MP is treated equally.”

Some backbenchers have gone past just being 'yea' or 'nay' voters. They take a stand. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail.