Thank you very much.
I want to mention, first of all, that you can see that I'm a little bit older than Matt. I'm considerably older than Matt. That's one thing that's adding to the need to make some changes to the way that the association is run. It is really important to have older people like me with lots of experience and background, but it's also important to have youth leading our organization, because there are another 30 years to come that will require some experience. People like Matt are going to be the ones leading the way in the future.
Since 1993, when the Tories got kicked out so unceremoniously that there were only two people left, the Tories have basically been the backbone of the association. I see that in the future for the Liberal members who will perhaps be younger and be ready to take on that role.
When you're young and you have a young family, as Matt does, you don't have the time to do the things that Leo, Andy and I and fellows in the past have had to do to take on the responsibilities of running the association.
The association is very important to the future of democracy in Canada. It's really important that we have an opportunity to teach young people about how Parliament works, because they just don't know. I don't know if you've been reading the information recently about that. Even my adult children don't really understand how Parliament works. Some of them don't know the difference, in many cases, between the federal government and the provincial government. Don't ask them about municipal politics, because that's really confusing for them.
What we do as former parliamentarians, in terms of letting people understand how this institution works and how parliamentary democracy works worldwide, is a really important function of what we have in mind. Even more important is the way that we can support new members coming into the House of Commons who don't really know what to expect, and then really support the folks who leave. You don't have to leave involuntarily to go through what I call “falling off the cliff”.
Just very recently, a former member who left voluntarily came to me. I thought she wanted to talk about something that had to do with provincial matters. She wanted to talk to me about what was happening to her as a voluntary, very high-profile member of Parliament and how she was being rejected by the community. That's what happens, folks.
It seems really weird, but when I left I was very lucky to have a former Liberal minister come and ask me for lunch. She told me, “Dorothy, it's going to take a decade to get rehabilitated.” I thought she was joking, but I did listen to her, and it really helped me to understand what I was coming up against, because she was someone I had really admired when she was in Parliament.
I discovered that she was right. It did take a decade to become accepted into the community and to be able to make a difference. Part of the difference was being asked to come back and join the association of former members, which was formed about three years after I left Parliament. They just reached out and asked, “Whatever happened to Dorothy Dobbie?”
Well, that was all I needed to be back, saying that I'm here and I'm willing to serve. I think that if you're born into a life of service to the public, it sticks with you. It's in your heart. It stays with you. When you finally leave, being rejected for that service is kind of difficult, but to be able to come and meet with colleagues you formerly worked with and have an opportunity to still make a difference is something I think is just endemic to who we are as Parliamentarians.
I am very glad that we have Matt to run things in the future and to carry on the traditions of the association, but he needs the resources to be able to do the job that we were mandated to do in the very beginning. You've all heard what those mandates were. They are an act of Parliament. I guess the only thing I can say is that it's a mandate, and we haven't been able to completely fulfill that mandate.
I hope you that you will consider our request. We're willing to make compromises and to have discussions, but we really want to move this agenda forward and make sure that the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians is here for the future for any of you who might need our help when that day comes.