Having faced a pandemic, there can be no more excuses

After a whirlwind month of campaigning, our MPs can start doing what matters most: serving their constituents. But this time, things are different.

The intrusion of COVID-19 into our lives switched on the advocate in many of us, and more people than ever are calling for better governance.

And we're right to demand more from our government.

With the pandemic exposing gaps in society, documented by advocacy groups, journalists and researchers, newly elected MPs have an unprecedented amount of high-quality information and front-line stories to guide them.

Systemic barriers faced by persons with disabilities, seniors and Indigenous persons are in the open, and the public demand for government to respond should motivate any good policy-maker to do better.

They can now also act with the confidence that flexibility and speed in policy-making are possible, as shown in the pandemic response, and that legislative inaction is as much about lacking political will as anything.

There can be no excuses for letting down the people who need them most.

It's time for our government to get back to work and — judging by their actions and not their campaign rhetoric — we must hold them to a higher standard than ever.