Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was named the country’s hardest-working MP at the 2013 Parliamentarian of the Year awards hosted by Maclean’s and L’actualité magazines.
The Saanich-Gulf Islands MP is in Warsaw, Poland, attending the United Nations climate negotiations and was not able to accept her award in person on Tuesday night.
May told the Times Colonist on Wednesday that the award is hugely meaningful because it is based on a vote of all members of Parliament.
“Being voted Parliamentarian of the Year in 2012 was such an honour, I really didn’t expect to get anything this year,” May said. “So I am very grateful that my colleagues have voted me hardest-working MP.
“I do work hard because there is so much to do — so many constituents who need help and so many issues that are pressing.”
May said she typically puts in about 15 hours a day, seven days a week, arriving at work just after 7 a.m. and often leaving about 10 p.m. “I take off one day a month,” she said.
May has often said she believes she’s the only MP who reads every piece of legislation thoroughly.
Parliamentarians voted on six categories, including best orator and most knowledgeable. The MP who receives the highest total points across all areas is named Parliamentarian of the Year, a distinction May won last year.
Peter Stoffer, NDP MP for Sackville-Eastern Shore, was named Parliamentarian of the Year.
The Winners
• Parliamentarian of the Year: Peter Stoffer (NDP, Sackville-Eastern Shore)
• Rising Star: Chris Alexander (Conservative, Ajax-Pickering), minister of citizenship and immigration
• Best Orator: John Baird (Conservative, Ottawa West-Nepean), minister of foreign affairs
• Most Collegial: Rodger Cuzner (Liberal, Cape Breton-Canso)
• Most Knowledgeable: Jason Kenney (Conservative, Calgary Southeast), minister of employment and social development
• Best Represents Constituents: Ted Hsu (Liberal, Kingston and the Islands)
• Hardest Working: Elizabeth May (Green, Saanich-Gulf Islands), leader of the Green party)
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Peter Milliken
