20 hours of work that Patrick Brown won't be doing

January 25th, the day Parliament was originally scheduled to resume, has come and passed, and Barrie MP Patrick Brown has been doing his best to convince you that doing constituency work is an acceptable substitute for the work he ought to be doing in Ottawa:

busy day working in constituency office. lots of passports, immigration work and charity work 3:55 PM Jan 27th from mobile web

going back to my constit office for some evening meetings. constituency casework is certainly high volume in Barrie 2:08 PM Jan 26th from mobile web

working in my Barrie office all day serving constituents 6:14 AM Jan 25th from mobile web

Source: http://twitter.com/brownbarrie

Now let's take a look at what Mr. Brown had to say about his job before his boss, Stephen Harper, prorogued Parliament. Here is an excerpt from a December 4, 2009 article:

A couple of seats away and a row forward is Patrick Brown, 31, a Conservative who has represented Barrie, Ont., since 2006. A former two-term city councillor, Brown is a member of two committees, including the standing committee on health. He says committee work, in which groups of MPs study bills after they've passed second reading in the House, is what takes up a lot of his time.

“Legislation is introduced by a minister in the House, but the meat and potatoes of it, the study of it, is done in committee,” Brown says. He adds he usually spends about 10 hours a week on work for each committee.

Source: http://www.capitalnews.ca/index.php/news/whos-that-in-the-back

What happens to committees when Parliament is prorogued:

Committees, including special and legislative committees, cease to exist and all orders of reference lapse. Committee memberships, except the membership of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, are terminated and all Chairs and Vice-Chairs cease to hold office. The Panel of Chairs for legislative committees also ceases to exist.

Source: House of Commons Procedure and Practice