"The Globe and Mail" columnist Margaret Wente has described Dhalla as unpopular among her colleagues in the Liberal parliamentary caucus, where she is viewed as a "high maintenance" self-promoter. In a survey of parliamentary staffers from the "Hill Times", Dhalla was voted the worst MP to work for, and the pollsters suggested that she had "more turnover than anyone on the hill". She was also said to be more interested in the limelight than in doing parliamentary work, with a former caucus colleague saying "It's everything starting with making sure she's in every photo-op with the leader. I often hear of events where she calls the organizers and says 'I want to speak,' even though she wasn't invited", and she showed up at the 2009 Liberal convention in a white stretch limo. When the caregivers' controversy broke out, one MP was quoted as saying "I don't get the sense that too many people are feeling all that sorry for her"