Alumni Associations for MPs

Several months ago we told you about some of the great people we've met at the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians. This group, non-profit and non-partisan, is comprised of those who have previously been in the Canadian Senate or House of Commons. It's kind of like the alumni association for ex-MPs and Senators, and they they have counterparts in many other countries, including the US and the UK.

The CAFP is supporting our MP Exit Interviews - giving us advice and helping us establish contact with and encourage the participation of their members. With this project, we are interviewing MPs who left public life after the 38th or 39th Parliaments (2004-2008) to learn what enabled and hindered their success, and what they'd suggest could be done to improve the experience of those in public life.

When they're not doing this, they're maintaining connections among their members and putting their knowledge and experience to work to advance of parliamentary democracy. Among other things, this includes school visits across Canada and training sessions to new Parliamentarians abroad. They also publish an alumni magazine, Beyond the Hill, and were kind enough to include a story about Samara's exit interview project in their most recent issue.

The US group's activities are similar in structure to those of the CAFP - promoting public service at home, strengthening representative democracy abroad and keeping their members in touch. There are a couple of insiders' publications that might interest the political junkies among you.

The British site cheekily emphasizes how little consideration is paid to people who've served in public life - a situation not unlike that we have in Canada. Several years ago, they commissioned a study into their members that shines a bit of light on former MPs. It's a bit more descriptive than the one we have planned, but it's always encouraging to learn from other experiments.