My Internship in Canada (2015)

Earnest twenty-two year old Souverain Pascal, a student of democracy and a recent arrival to Canada from his native Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is able to secure an internship with the only Canadian Member of Parliament (MP) who responded to his request for work, Steve Guibord of the northern, sprawling and largely rural Québec riding of Prescott - Makedewá - Rapides-aux-Outardes, he the only sitting Independent in what is now the Conservative Party majority Parliament, albeit a majority with the slimmest of margins. Steve's situation, with no party backing, makes him arguably the most ignored MP in the House, with his constituency office above a lingerie shop, which is only accessible through that shop, a manifestation of what little resources he has to conduct his political work. A former NHL hockey player, Steve left it as a career for personal reasons that would have made the required travel untenable. He also left the Liberal Party on bad terms in not agreeing with their aboriginal affairs policy, he who has a positive rapport with the local Algonquins. The Algonquins have just started placing roadblocks along the major highway in the riding to protest logging on what they consider their land, such roadblocks, which he generally respects, placing the Algonquins at odds with the truckers union, with who Steve also has a good rapport. Both Steve and Souverain get a lesson in the Canadian political system when the ruling Conservatives plan on holding a vote in the House on whether to send Canadian troops into a war zone on the other side of the world. Steve plans to abstain in the Conservatives having the votes to pass the motion. However, things change when the Conservatives lose one member for undisclosed reasons meaning that with the opposition parties voting against, Steve would have the deciding vote. To avoid political suicide in choosing one side or another, Steve decides to hold official consultations with his constituents. While both sides court his vote, both in the political and public realm, the arguments provided to him largely touch on issues not directly related to the war itself. Many of his constituents also fall on one side or the other in how the vote would best forward their own position on other issues. Steve also faces the discord in his family, with his wife, small business owner, Suzanne Guibord, falling on the right of the spectrum, and their teenage daughter, Lune Guibord, falling on the left of the spectrum. With these global, national, local and familial issues at play, Souverain may understand the system better than them all in coming up with what he believes is a solution where Steve can have his cake and eat it too in voting his conscience while coming out politically ahead.