Calgary's Jason Kenney named Canada's Best Overall MP in Ottawa

May 13, 2009

Maclean's magazine hands out the honours at the Parliamentarians of the Year Awards in Ottawa

TORONTO, May 13 /CNW/ - Maclean's magazine, in association with the Dominion Institute, L'actualité and Presenting Sponsor Enbridge, celebrated the third-annual Parliamentarians of the Year awards this evening on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Attended by Members of Parliament, some of the country's most prominent journalists and other Canadians of note, the event honours Canada's top MPs, as voted by their peers in the House of Commons.

This year marked the highest-response rate ever among Members of Parliament with 70% from across all parties voting for Parliamentarians of the Year. Winners and runners-up cross all political lines as well.

The award-winners will be highlighted in a special issue of Maclean's hitting newsstands tomorrow, Thursday, May 14. Full award results, photos, runners-up and methodology can also be found at Macleans.ca/parliamentarian.

Best Overall MP

This year's Best Overall MP is Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney. Mr. Kenney (Conservative) was first elected to the House of Commons in 1997 and has been re-elected three times, most recently with 76 percent of the vote.

In addition to the coveted Best Overall MP, six other awards were bestowed upon MPs: best orator, best rookie, most collegial, best constituent representative, hardest working and most knowledgeable.

Maclean's 2009 Parliamentarians of the Year winners:

Best Overall MP

winner:

Jason Kenney (CON) (Calgary Southeast)

runner-up:

Michael Ignatieff (LIB)

Best Orator

winner:

Bob Rae (LIB) (Toronto Centre)

runner-up:

Gilles Duceppe (BQ)

Best Rookie

winner:

Megan Leslie (NDP) (Halifax)

runner-up:

Marc Garneau (LIB)

Most Collegial

winner:

Peter Stoffer (NDP) (Sackville-Eastern Shore - Nova Scotia)

runner-up:

Rodger Cuzner (LIB)

Best Constituent Representative

winner:

Bill Casey (IND) (Cumberland-Colchester - Nova Scotia)

runner-up:

Charlie Angus (NDP)

Hardest Working

winner:

Paul Szabo (LIB) (Mississauga South - Ontario)

runner-up:

Ted Menzies (CON)

Most Knowledgeable

winner:

Joe Comartin (NDP) (Windsor Tecumseh - Ontario)

runner-up:

Gilles Duceppe (BQ)

How the winners were selected:

To determine the Parliamentarians of the Year Awards winners, Ipsos-Reid surveyed all 308 Members of Parliament and asked them to nominate the best MPs in each of seven categories (hardest working, best orator, most collegial, most knowledgeable about the issues of the day, best at representing their constituents, best rookie, and best overall). Almost 70 per cent of the MPs took part this year, casting votes for fellow MPs both within and outside of their party. The votes were then weighted and converted to a point system to ensure that larger parties did not have an advantage. The MP with the most points in each category was the winner.

About Maclean's:

Maclean's is Canada's only national weekly current affairs magazine. Maclean's enlightens, engages and entertains 2.4 million readers with strong investigative reporting and exclusive stories from leading journalists in the fields of international affairs, social issues, national politics, business and culture. Visit www.macleans.ca.

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