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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-04-08, Page 5Constituency assistants Dan Pearson and Colleen Rice have access to information on all federal government programs as part of their mandate to help residents in MP Murray Cardiff’s riding of Huron-Bruce. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1987. PAGE 5. offices Cutting through red tape is the specialty of these public servants BY TOBY RAINEY There is a modest-fronted office on Brussels’ main street, and another in Wingham, whose sole purpose is to make life run a little more smoothly for all of us, although many people either never realize they are there, or don’t understand their function. These are your constituency offices, and regardless of your political stripe, they’re here to help. The one in Brussels is under the name of local federal Conserva­ tive Member of Parliament (MP) Murray Cardiff, while the Wing­ ham office bears the name of Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and Ontario Minister of Health Murray Elston. The color of these men’s banners is, however, irrelevant to the function of their offices for 99 per cent of the time, according to Mr. Cardiff’s constituency assistant, Dan Pearson. “The job is definitely non-politi- cal. We’re federal (or provincial) civil servants, so we are here to assist all constituents,’’ he says, adding that he and his assistant, Colleen Rice, are employees of the House of Commons, paid by the House, and directly responsible to the Speaker of the House. In the Wingham office, Terry Deyell is directly responsible to, andhiredby, theRight Honour­ able Murray Elston, under a budget established by the provin­ cial legislature, as is a similar office in Kincardine to service the north half of the sprawling riding of Huron-Bruce. A single toll-free number, Zenith 1-4520 rings in either office, depending upon where the call originated, Mr. Deyell says. Both the Brussels and Wingham offices work easily together, con­ stantly in touch as they fulfil their respective mandates to assist their constituents. BothMr. Pearson and Mr. Deyell say there is often public confusion as to whether a certain government program is federal or provincial, and both offices get many calls which should, ideally, be directed to the other level of government. However, both offices often can and do provide the needed inform­ ation, or provide the proper contact for a constituent; or else they refer him to the other office if the problem is more complicated or needs to be dealt with by the proper authority. “Weoftenset up meetings or get forms for a constituent who should actually be dealing with municipal government, such as with Social Services or the Housing Authority (both partially provin­ cially-funded but administered by the county), ’ ’ Mr. Deyell points out. “And weeven get calls about cattle on the road or barking dogs, and have to pass them on to the township or the town for a solution.’’ “We first of all have to try to find out what the (constituent’s) pro­ blem really is, then try to get it resolved,’’ says Mr. Deyell. He agrees with his federal counterpart that a large part of the job consists of explaining the various govern­ ment programs to constituents, with a surge of enquiries coming in immediately after a new program is announced. Other calls are seasonal in nature, such as a rash of income tax-related queries coming at this time of year, or questions on the senior citizens’ property tax rebate in the fall. Mr. Pearson says that a large percentage of his calls concern the variousfederalincome security programs, such as family allowan­ ces and Canada pensions. Many of these involve just handing out the proper forms or helping an appli­ cant fill them out, but the office is also called upon to track down several lost cheques each month, which it does successfully. Some of the more poignant appeals for help that come in to Mr. Cardiff’s office involve the Unem­ ployment Insurance Commission (UIC), with the problems which arise often compounded by desper­ ation on the part of the claimant. At certain times of the year, such as in November and December, it is not unusual to get 30 or 40 calls or visits a month at the Brussels office over UIC problems, according to Mr. Pearson, but the frustrations can continue all year. “There are so many intricacies to the (UIC) system, so many ways "Generally, if you treat a government office well, you get treated well in return. ” Dan Pearson to fill out the forms wrong and so many delays in receiving benefits, that I almost feel everyone should call us first before they go to Canada Manpower to make a claim,’’ he says. “I’m not running down Manpower, but so often UIC problems branch over into other departments, such as Social Servi­ ces, and we are trained here to help everyone as best we can.’’ He says that his office can often get to the root of a problem fairly quickly because of the “clout” that goes with the territory, and also because constituency offices have access to all government pro­ grams, oratleastknowwhereto find the information needed. To demonstrate, he hauls out a number of fat reference books and catalogues, containing everything from an alphabetical listing of all possible (and sometimes improba­ ble) programs, grants and funding from both levels of senior govern- ment, to a telephone directory which lists all government depart­ ments and key personnel. “I traded one of ours to Jack Riddell for one of theirs,” he jokes. Canada Revenue also generates a lot of calls and visits, usually one or two per day from January until the end of June, when the last rebate cheque should have been returned. “We are general practi­ tioners, not specialists,” Mr. Pearson notes, explaining that he ‘ Our job is to try to find out what the problem is, and to try to get it resolved. Terry Deyell refers most of these callers to accountants, tax lawyers and Revenue Canada offices. He says he gets a few complaints each year about the severity of the tax bite in certain cases, and that the odd time the constituency office can act as a mediator between the taxpayer and Revenue Canada, but such cases are rare. One of the major areas of concern to Huron constituents, and one the local offices and staff are well prepared to handle, are farm or agricultural issues, such as concerns with such major pro­ grams as stabilization, farm credit, debt review boards, the special grains program, land tax rebates, the Canadian Rural Transition Program and the Ontario Family Farm Interest Rate Rebate (OFFIRR) program. “An awful lot of farmers call us for help in understanding or applying for these programs,” Mr. Pearson says, noting that he also gets calls from farmers in other ridings because they know Murray Cardiff is himself a farmer, or because they knew him when he was president of the Ontario Bean Board, before he was first elected in 1980. Mr. Pearson himself is well equipped to handle farm-related questions, having been a farmer himself on the 8th line in Grey Township until he sold out seven years ago. If the problem is something he feels he can’t handle, he will refer the caller to an OMAF office or to the right department at Agriculture Can­ ada. Mr. Cardiff keeps his local office very well informed on all farm issues according to his office manager, who also does a lot of background reading on the sub­ ject. The Brussels office has informa­ tion on any federal government program almost the instant it is released anywhere, thanks to the E-Mail, or electronic mail, system installed two years ago. When the special Grains Assistance Program was announced in Ottawa at 3 p. m. onan Augustafternoon in 1985, full details were in Brussels at 3:20 p.m. that same afternoon. The compact keyboard, monitorand printer unit is a very important item in the day-to-day operation of the constituency office, providing a direct connection to the House of Commons’ data centre, which stores up-to-date information for instant access. Both the federal and provincial constituency offices speak directly to their members at least once every day, and to their respective Ottawa or Toronto offices several times a day; both Mr. Pearson and Mr. Deyell say that in an emergen­ cy they could likely contact Mr. Cardiff and Mr. Elston within the hour if need be. An important aspect of both offices is to set up appointments between their members and their constituents, something which can be done usually within a month of a request. Mr. Cardiff is in Brussels nearly every weekend, and will try to see constituents on Friday afternoons or Monday mornings, times he often attends to local engagements as well. All the MP’s engagements are arranged by his office in Ottawa, but requests may be made through the Brussels office, where some of his time is already committed well into 1988. “The longer we know ahead, the more likely we can arrange for Murray to be there,” Mr. Pearson says. Mr. Pearson, Mrs. Rice and Mr. Deyell all share a common love of their unusual jobs, agreeing that what they most enjoy is the variety of their day-to-day duties, the opportunity to meet a lot of different people, and the know ledge that they are able to help people out in a very real way. They also like to hear “the end of the story” from constituents they have assisted, and are always delighted * 'It s always nice to hear that a problem has been solved, that the work you've done has been ef fective. " Colleen Rice when someone calls or visits to thank them for a job well done. The thing that disturbs all three the most is when people become abusive on the phone or in person, and it does happen, although few encounters are as unnerving as the one Mr. Deyell was caught in last December when a disgruntled constituent, upset with the system, hurled canned goods through the office window to express his displeasure. “It’snotasifwe make the rules,” Mr. Pearson says. “None of the decisions we make are personal.” And both Dan Pearson and Colleen Rice agree very emphati­ cally on one thing, where their boss is concerned: “You’d never ever find anybody better than Murray to work for,” they say.