I have had the pleasure of being placed in both the Financial Services Branch as well as the Purchasing & Operations Services Branch with Directors Bonnie Easterbrook and Patricia Pittiglio for my Legislative Placement. I have been welcomed very kindly into both offices and I am enjoying learning about the people, the services they offer, and about real policy issues that the branches have!
I have been working primarily with Manpreet and Heather in Financial Services as we are working on editing the Member’s Guide, general member services and ultimately, creating a condensed version of this guide. The hope for the condensed version is to summarize key details and frequently asked questions for Members and their staff to easily access while using the full Member’s Guide as an extended and detailed resource. I also have been reviewing policy along with Kimberlee and the Purchasing & Operations Branch.
To begin, as someone who had never had any exposure to the Member’s Guide or any of Financial Services policy documents, I was able to see the documents as a first-time Member might. Thus, I went through the Member’s Guide to edit areas for clarity, assessed discrepancies, edited sections and further identified areas which would be beneficial to highlight in the Newsletters that Financial Services sends out to better inform Members of key policies.
I am learning a lot about the responsibilities of the Members and their staff and especially how intricate all of the policies are to ensure proper financial accountability. The streamlining of documentation has been a very interesting process and this placement has given me new insight that I look forward to utilizing when I get placed in a Member’s office next month!