Collecting points or connecting points?

Politics will never be easy. There are seemingly countless layers of personal, public and private interests to understand and respect in even the simplest issue.

Politics is people work. It’s emotional and so it comes with peaks and valleys. Everything we do will impact someone, or everyone, and so each and every decision is important.

How we relate to each other is critical. Unfortunately, scoring points is often seen as more important than personal relationships in the divided, aggressive political culture found in North America. We are collecting points rather than connecting points. As a result, we are undermining the good work we could be doing with each other.

Political debates are emotional. My speeches to the LNG tax bill are the most tense and urgent of any of my speeches in Hansard so far. I use strong language, pose serious challenges and I call my colleagues out. While I remain committed to do more calling in than calling out, this issue requires urgency.

Maintaining relationships

Although I am urgent about issues like LNG, here are a few general principles that I hope guide my actions in my time in politics.

1. Invest in resilient, respectful relationships with other elected officials,
2. Speak passionately, not personally,
3. Don’t forget the next issue is important too!

In light of this, the ability to recover from a disappointing vote is critical. The best training grounds for this is my experience at the council table. Local government councillors deal with a high volume of issues in a very short period of time, often just a couple of hours. It is not uncommon to argue passionately for something, vote, and then immediately move on to the next high priority issue.

This skill helps elected officials compartmentalize each issue. In the next vote, friends are former foes, while the foes are now former friends. Building strong relationships with all corners of the table, is vital for maintaining and even nurturing those relationships through tough votes.

The danger for an elected official is too many compartments, too many little boxes, to hide the pieces of the puzzle in. If each piece is stored safely on its own, we very quickly lose sight of the big picture. When it comes to climate change, the big picture really matters.

It rained briefly last week. Silas, my 11-year-old son, said at dinner. “It was nice to finally get some rain. That was first rain of 2019.” Summer droughts are one thing, winter droughts are another. Spring droughts – well you get the point. Let’s start making connections.