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Members sit in the House of Commons to serve as representatives of the people who have elected them to that office. They have wide‑ranging responsibilities which include activities in the Chamber, committees, and their constituencies. As Professor C.E.S. Franks has noted: The member of parliament represents his constituency through service in the House of Commons. This does not mean, however, that he spends most of this time sitting in the House, or even that attendance there is the most important part of his work. An MP spends far more of his working life outside the House than in it. … The job is people‑oriented, involving talking about and listening to ideas, proposals, and complaints, reconciling opposing viewpoints, explaining party or government policy to citizens and citizens’ views to party and government, getting action out of the government on problems of constituents, and examining how the government uses or abuses the power it exercises on behalf of the people of Canada.[277] Besides participating in debates in the Chamber and in committees, and conveying their constituents’ views to the government and advocating on their behalf, Members also have responsibilities in many other areas:
Members, once elected and sworn in, are bound to observe certain rules of conduct in carrying out their parliamentary functions. Although there is no statute which dictates a code of conduct for parliamentarians at the federal level, some provisions regarding the conduct of Members and conflict of interest matters exist in the Standing Orders of the House (including the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons),[278] the Parliament of Canada Act[279] and the Criminal Code.[280] Also in place is the Conflict of Interest Act[281] which governs the ethical conduct of public office holders, including Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries. A number of these provisions are discussed later in this chapter.
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