Whenever Peter Stoffer rose to speak in the House of Commons last year, the MP sitting directly behind him would lean forward and quietly whisper an affectionate nickname.
Mr. Stoffer, the MP for Nova Scotia's Sackville-Eastern Shore riding, is known as the King of the PMBs: From Jan. 26 to Dec. 30 last year, the NDP politician introduced 24 private member's bills, more than anyone else in the House.
In a parliamentary system where political manoeuvring seems to trump actual policy, a lot of Mr. Stoffer's bills seem refreshingly benign. There is the act to remove the goods and services tax from the cost of funeral arrangements (C-220), prohibit the sale of military medals (C-208) and prevent the distribution of child pornography on the Internet (C-209). Another proposes a program that offers financial assistance to high-school students visiting military memorial sites abroad (C-226) and amending the Canadian Bill of Rights to include a right to housing (C-224).
Mr. Stoffer's efforts reflect more than just an endearing optimism. They're an act of defiance against a system in which most back-bench MPs exert little influence over legislative change.
But his attempts frequently run aground. Because of the frequency of elections recently, Mr. Stoffer has been reintroducing some of these bills for years. And prorogation delays the process further, creating a backlog of PMBs waiting to be read or voted on in the House.
Mr. Stoffer has introduced Bill C-209 repeatedly since 2000. (Before that, it was introduced by another NDP MP, Chris Axworthy.) Bill C-201, to cancel a military-pension clawback, has been introduced four times; Bill C-210, five.
“I'm a very hopeful person,” Mr. Stoffer said. “If I do have to introduce them to the end of time, that means I'm going to be a very old MP.”
Members of Ottawa's Sons of Scotland Pipe Band tune up before the start of the Tartan Day Parade in New York on April 8, 2006.
The 54-year-old former airline employee was born in Holland and won his first election in 1997 by just 39 votes. Since then, he has used old-fashioned retail politics to establish himself in his riding, knocking on doors and dedicating himself to voicing his constituents' concerns in Ottawa. In the 2008 election, he received more than 60 per cent of the votes in his riding.
He sits on the veterans affairs committee and serves as his party's deputy critic for fisheries and industry. He repeatedly has been voted the most fun MP to work for, by The Hill Times newspaper, and is known for hosting his annual “All Party, Party” – a non-partisan fundraiser.
Last year, he took on new Conservative Senator Mike Duffy, challenging the fact that the former journalist had racked up more than $100,000 in expenses during his first three months in the chamber.
But prorogation is wearing on him. “All the work you've done up until that point basically gets forgotten about and you start all over again.”
The closing of Parliament has also shut down his committee work, including a battle to improve the Veterans Charter. By the time they get their act together, Mr. Stoffer said, it will be summer break and the committee will disband again.
“You kind of wonder sometimes why you do it,” he said. “History tells you that in six months to a year, it's all going to get whitewashed and you're going to do it all over again. It is frustrating, there's no question about it.”
But Mr. Stoffer has had some success. In 2005, the Liberal government adopted his bill to have a book of remembrance in the Commons for those who died in the service of Canada since 1953.
And under the Conservative regime, he has seen his bill for the preservation of lighthouses adopted by the government, as well as one that made amateur sports tax-deductible. (He had hoped to make gym memberships immune to taxes as well, but is happy with the compromise.)
If I do have to introduce them to the end of time, that means I'm going to be a very old MP.— New Democrat Peter Stoffer
He would very much like to see royal assent given to Bill C-214, which would designate April 6 as Tartan Day. It wouldn't cost the government anything, he said, and the day is already recognized by every province and territory. “There's an awful lot of people who would look forward to National Tartan Day. I just have to keep convincing the government.”
All of Mr. Stoffer's bills begin in suggestions from constituents or people he meets in his work on fisheries and industry. Mel Pittman, a retired military policeman who lives in lower Sackville, asked him to introduce Bill C-201, which would reduce deductions from military and RCMP pensions.
The bill died in committee in November, after two Liberal MPs filling in for colleagues abstained from a vote, allowing it to be defeated. It was the fourth time the bill had been introduced.
Recently, Mr. Stoffer met with Mr. Pittman and his friends to say he would bring up the bill again, with modifications, if they were still keen.
“It certainly is a part of his character,” Mr. Pittman said. “He goes out of his way, and I don't know how he finds time.”
Until Parliament resumes, Mr. Stoffer plans to spend time in his riding, knocking on doors and getting ideas for new bills. He might take a weekend off and go to Montreal with his wife, Andrea, and spend time with his two daughters.
He is enjoying being able to sleep at home, but he wishes the House leaders would come to some sort of agreement to clear up the backlog of private member's bills, finding a way to rescue him from his Groundhog Day mission to state their cases in Parliament again and again. But he has no plans to give up his fight, repetitive as it might be.
“I'll introduce them as soon as I can,” he said.
