Megan Leslie on Motivation, Progressive Values

Interview with Halifax Member of Parliament (MP) on Current Issues

May 31, 2009

S101 recently had the opportunity to speak with Megan Leslie, Member of Parliament for Halifax on a variety of issues.

S101 : The first question, what drove you? What inspired you to become involved in federal politics, and what motivates you to serve your riding?

Megan Leslie : That is a complicated question, only because there are so many answers. It wasn't just one thing for me, really, but one of the many answers is that I believe in Government.

I believe that a Government should take care of its citizens, and should take care of our environment.

I believe in a strong Government to support us and help us accomplish what we can as a society. I've been working mostly in the provincial realm, I was a community legal worker and so I did a lot of work on welfare rights or tenant rights and those are very much provincial pieces of legislation.

I would say, "Hey, we need more affordable housing, whats going on?", "We need action on climate change, why isn't this happening?" – Time and time again the answer was, "Well, the provinces don't have any money for this and the municipalities are getting everything downloaded to them by the provinces!" and I realized that my personal ideology was strongest with regards to the need for strong Government, for Government to take part and actively participate in a lot of these issues.

We are living in a time where our Government is actually trying to eliminate itself. Trying to cut as many programs, trying to cut as many departments as they possibly can, because the ideology of the current Government is one that doesn't believe in strong Federal Government.

So, part of why I wanted to get involved was I believe that there is a role in Federal leadership in housing. I believe very strongly in having a strong Federal leadership position and plan on the environment and climate change and watching the Conservative Government cut that and eliminate that is part of what motivated me to be involved.

S101 : Admirable. Service due to a sense of obligation and strong beliefs is what people really want in a representative.

S101 : Well, it's a tough avenue to go down. You are going to face a lot of opposition in a lot of ways – it's not the most popular cause in a lot of ways because we're talking about people that are generally marginalized from the beginning and so they don't have a lot of representation in the first place.

They are represented to some degree but not as strongly by lobbyists and corporate donorship and economic leverage. In many ways, what you're doing relates directly to that.

Suite101 : What would you say needs to change in our current society and our politics and how receptive do you think Canadians are to progressive ideology?

Megan Leslie : So, this is another reason why I decided to run. As I said, there were lots of reasons. I really believe that a lot of Canadians, I would even venture to say most Canadians relate or identify to social democratic values, or progressive values, especially on social issues. I really and truly believe that most Canadians do relate with those values but they don't know what it is to be a social democrat, or what social democracy is, or what progressive is – or even what is "right versus left". Many people are still unaware of the breadth of the political spectrum.

If you ask people, "What do you care about?", they say "I care about the environment; I care about good schools for my kids; I believe that we should have a Health Care system."

Talk to them, talk to average, every day Canadians. They have a distinct set of progressive values but I don't think that people know what that means when it translates into the mechanics of electoral politics. So, I think it's really important, for me, as a social democrat and for my party and for other people who are progressive, to start talking about what exactly "progressive" means. We should start saying, and more importantly showing, that progressive politicians are people who are actually working to promote those things that you and other Canadians believe in, perhaps to end some of the cynicism through action and commitment to our constituents.

So, I think it's my job to work to demystify the political process. Demystify electoral politics and to talk to the people and help inspire and educate people regarding the actual political process.

Other Articles Pertaining to this Interview

The copyright of the article Megan Leslie on Motivation, Progressive Values in Canadian Politics is owned by Nicholas Morine. Permission to republish Megan Leslie on Motivation, Progressive Values in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.