Parliamentarians of the Year 2012 — Michelle Rempel, rising star

The confidence that parliamentarian Michelle Rempel presents when standing to spar in the House did not come without con- scious effort.

“I think one of the challenges I had,” she says, “was actually finding my voice.” After handling a few rounds of ques- tions as the parliamentary secretary to the minister of the environment in the spring, Rempel spent the summer studying policy and watching the parliamentarian’s version of game tape.

“I spent last summer really, really learning the files and watching people I consider successful in the House,” she says.

“How they spoke and how they interpreted the issue and how they framed it in the context of debate.”

A meticulous planner (all of her staff have “performance metrics”) and the youngest Conservative MP (she’ll turn 33 in February), she is now one of the government’s most impressive performers, seemingly at ease on the House stage and perhaps bound someday for a seat along the front bench.