MPs and LGBT rights at Egale reception on the Hill

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 9:10 AM - 0 Comments

Egale, Canada’s national lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) human rights organization, held a special all-party reception in the Hill hosted by Tory Senator Nancy Ruth.

Senator Nancy Ruth (left) and Egale Executive Director Helen Kennedy.

Tory Senator Nancy Ruth (left) and NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel.

NDP MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan.

(l-r) Egale Director Helen Kennedy with Conservative MPs Kerry Lynn Findlay, Susan Truppe and Joyce Bateman.

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Purim in Ottawa

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 1:16 AM - 0 Comments

Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn of the Canadian Federation of Chabad Lubavitch organized a party for the Jewish holiday of Purim. The event was hosted Conservative MP Mark Adler.

Rabbi Rabbi Chain Mendelsohn (left) Conservative MP Mark Adler

Green Party leader Elizabeth May (right) with NDP Dennis Bevington.

A Conservative St. Patrick’s Day bash

By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 10:55 PM - 0 Comments

A St. Patrick’s Day celebration was held in the office of MP James Rajotte for Tory MPs.

Tony Clement.

Jason Kenney.

Kellie Leitch and MIke Wallace.

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Why Lisa Raitt went shoeless in the House of Commons

By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 11:49 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

Raitt ditches her heels

A snap vote to attempt to delay the Conservatives’ controversial omnibus crime bill saw MPs racing to make it into the House of Commons last week. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney got in seconds after the warning bells stopped. Labour Minister Lisa Raitt whisked in just before him, but she’d had to remove her high-heeled shoes as she bolted down the staircase to make it to the chamber on time.

The Senatrix martini

MPs from all parties packed a reception hosted by Canada’s gay rights group Egale. The event was hosted by Tory Sen. Nancy Ruth. Before she addressed the boisterous crowd, the senator tried to quiet it, shouting, “Shut up!” This prompted Liberal MP Justin Trudeau to quip, “Shut the f–k up usually works better”—referring to what she famously told aid groups who protested against the Prime Minister’s refusal to fund abortions as part of its international maternal health initiative. If they didn’t, the senator suggested, they would face “more backlash” from the Tories. Egale had a juggling barman serving martinis, one called the “Senatrix,” named for Nancy Ruth, and another called the “Naked Whip.” Colourful platters included edible flowers, one of which was tasted by Toronto NDP MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan. One gay Hill staffer, who used to be in the Prime Minister’s Office with Stephen Harper, told Capital Diary of the time the PM congratulated him on his same-sex marriage. Stephen Harper went on to make his dream come true when, on a trip, the Prime Minister surprised the staffer by pulling him aside and allowing him to meet Céline Dion, who he was preparing to greet.

At the reception, Egale told Capital Diary it is working with coroners to track gay suicide deaths. In Saskatchewan, it is involved with the province to train police officers about LGBT issues, and in Newfoundland it is co-operating with the government to provide anti-homophobia resources in classrooms.

Why robocalls aren’t popular in the Arctic

NDP MP Dennis Bevington said in the 2008 election he used robocalls to send messages to voters in his Western Arctic riding. He hasn’t used them since. The problem, he says, was the response from constituents. They kept telling him: “Hey, I tried to say something to you but all you did was keep talking and talking. I couldn’t get a word in.”

The perfect campaign jacket

NDP leadership candidates have been fanning across the country as their March 23-24 convention, and the vote for Jack Layton’s replacement, nears. Few are in Ottawa, but last week Niki Ashton made a short return to the capital, turning heads in a bright orange coat she’s dubbed her “campaign jacket.” Ashton says the coat was strategic because she needed something for outdoor photo-ops in wet and cold weather. She says the coat has been perfect in all of Canada except when she is back in her home riding of Churchill in Manitoba. “Then I need my Canada Goose,” says Ashton.

Trying the robocall scandal dish

At the centre of the robocall scandal is the riding of Guelph, where there happens to be a food joint called Pierre’s Poutine. “Pierre Poutine,” of course, was the name used to set up a robocall account to target the riding. Frank Valeriote, the Liberal MP who represents the riding, says he’s never been there. Indeed, he only recently tried poutine for the first time, at the Royal Oak, an Ottawa pub. All the talk of  “Pierre Poutine” got him thinking he needed to at least taste the stuff.

Down to floor space

As the hype continues to build for the Calgary Stampede’s 100th anniversary in July, so do the requests by friends to Calgary MP Lee Richardson to crash at his place. “I keep saying yes,” says the Tory MP. The problem is he’s getting set to demolish his house, and during the Stampede he’ll be renting a smaller one. Book now with Richardson for Stampede 2013.

Tips on proper body language and a beard debate

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, March 12, 2012 at 12:01 PM - 0 Comments

Colin Perkel/CP

Suzanne Somers influences ministers

Labour Minister Lisa Raitt looked at one of her shrinking colleagues and asked how they were shedding the pounds. The secret? Suzanne Somers’ diet plan. Raitt is now in full swing doing the core parts of the diet, which include eating fruit on an empty stomach and being careful about how she combines her vegetables, proteins, fats and carbohydrates. She’s been on the diet for two weeks and is down 10 lb.

Dude, where’s my polling station?

“Robocalls” trended on Twitter under the hashtag #robocallmovies. Some of the top spoofs included: Honey, I Shrunk the Electorate, Snow White and the Seven Calls, Pollstergeist, Lord of the Rings, Callsablanca and Dude, Where’s My Polling Station?

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Canada’s new poet laureate Fred Wah

By Mitchel Raphael - Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 11:07 PM - 0 Comments

Senate Speaker Noël Kinsella held a special reception for Canada’s new poet laureate Fred Wah (below) , the fifth person to hold this two-year position.

Fred Wah.

(L-R) Kinsella, Wah and House Speaker Andrew Scheer.

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Tony Clement: Peace

By Mitchel Raphael - Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 10:55 PM - 0 Comments

Treasury Board President Tony Clement.

The leadership look and an island’s clout

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, March 5, 2012 at 10:15 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

How not to look like an interim leader

Bob Rae, the “interim” Liberal leader, has been making all the right moves to look more and more like the party’s permanent leader, and even the unofficial official leader of the Opposition. On the Hill, it’s all about positioning. The Liberal leader typically holds his Wednesday post-caucus meeting press conference outside the doors of the House of Commons. NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel holds hers outside the party’s caucus meeting room with a backdrop of coat racks. Rae often brings a few MPs along with him. Once he had the entire caucus positioned behind him, including the Liberal senators, making his numbers look hefty. Rae is also asking more questions during question period, popping up when the Liberals get their second round of questions, in addition to his guaranteed question spot in the leaders’ round. Liberal MP Hedy Fry says, “We want him to ask the questions. He does the best job.” But having Rae ask more questions also means the Prime Minister has to get up more. With the Bloc losing official party status, the PM, for the most part, just answers questions from leaders of parties officially recognized by the House and now there are just two.

Taking a development minute

When International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda travels the world meeting top country officials seeking Canada’s assistance, she is often the only woman in the room aside from her own female staff. Women on the ground can be a key to effective aid. When Oda froze new funding to Egypt after the uprising, the only exception was to help women’s groups, arguing that how women ultimately fare in Egypt will be the true test to whether democracy takes hold. Oda was appointed in August 2007 and is the longest-serving CIDA minister. Oda is hoping some of CIDA’s work will be showcased in a similar way that Canadian history got highlighted in Heritage Minutes. It’s an idea she is floating with her department. One example of such a moment could be when CIDA co-ordinated with aid groups in Afghanistan so that polio vaccinations could be administered to people in remote areas.

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The art of a senator and a 60th birthday bash

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, February 27, 2012 at 9:05 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

The recipe for billion-dollar decisions

The folks in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s office are starting the late nights to prepare for the upcoming budget. Binders have been sent in from all government departments to be reviewed and assessed. Last year one of the biggest beneficiaries of the late nights was Gabriel Pizza, whose slogan is, “Bigger, better pizza.” When the minister has lunchtime meetings with staff, it’s usually over cold cuts that the billion-dollar decisions get made.

Cupboard out, Bloc in

The Bloc Québécois have finally got a small place to call their own in the House of Commons opposition lobby. A free-standing cupboard was moved to create a space. The Bloc has only four MPs and no official party status. As independents they don’t get a designated area in the opposition lobby. New Bloc Leader Daniel Paillé lost his seat in the last election, but since he is a former MP he is allowed to enter the lobby area. Green Leader Elizabeth May is also technically an independent MP, but the Liberals let her use a chair near the phones in their designated area. May says she appreciates the gesture very much, especially when she had problems with her hip and needed a place to sit.

A room with a view

Conservative Sen. Salma Ataullahjan has one of the nicer offices in the Centre Block. She was appointed to the job in 2010 and managed to get the office because the senator who was supposed to move in was allergic to carpet and a new one had just been laid. It has become one of the warmer offices to visit because the senator has hung several of the watercolours she painted herself. Ataullahjan laments the lack of colour she sees around so much of the Hill. She wasn’t permitted to hang the pictures herself because of asbestos issues in the Centre Block. She even had to wait for government officials to move two pictures closer together after they were not hung quite properly the first time.

Liberals plan to supersize

As part of the Liberals’ Valentine’s strategy, they had bilingual buttons made that stated: “Have a heart. Save the OAS.” Currently the Liberal party has two button machines that allow them to crank out instant messages, like the one about Old Age Security, with the help of party volunteers working the machines. Liberal strategist Kevin Bosch says he wants to go bigger and get a two-inch button machine.

A top Tory critic

Rona Ambrose, minister of public works and government services, was recently wearing a huge button that said, “Warning: Old fart’s birthday in progress.” It was part of a surprise 60th birthday party for Ted Menzies, minister of state for finance, at hip Ottawa restaurant Play. Menzies was legitimately surprised, which impressed many considering the difficulty keeping secrets in the capital. He was surrounded by many colleagues and family members, including his wife, Sandy Menzies, a jovial fixture on the Hill. “Who needs an opposition when you are married?” joked the minister. “Actually, they are your best critic.” Also in attendance was former Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay and Treasury Board President Tony Clement. Menzies is seen by many as less partisan than most Tories, especially his boss, Jim Flaherty. If Flaherty seeks out other political pastures, Menzies is seen a strong candidate to take his place.

Hear the one about the comic and his MP?

Vancouver comedian Charlie Demers was recently in Ottawa to be on an episode of CBC Radio’s The Debaters. Demers lives in the riding of NDP MP Libby Davies and is a big supporter. When asked what jokes he tells about Davies, he confesses he has not incorporated her into his stand-up routine: “You know you have a good MP when they don’t provide any comedy material.”

Ted Menzies turns 60

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 9:05 AM - 0 Comments

A surprise 60^th birthday party was held for Ted Menzies, minister of state for finance, at Ottawa’s hip restaurant Play.

Ted Menzies.

Rona Ambrose, minister of public works and government services

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The Senator and her watercolours

By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, February 24, 2012 at 9:05 AM - 0 Comments

Conservative Sen. Salma Ataullahjan has one of the nicer offices in Centre Block thanks to the great watercolours she herself paints.

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The Stoffer Olympics

By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 11:49 PM - 0 Comments

NDP MP Peter Stoffer launched an Olympic awareness campaign at his Ottawa office. In exchange for a donation, people can come to his office to shoot five darts, five Nerf basketball shots, five shots of pool, five putts of golf and five kicks of a soccer ball (with double points in soccer if done in wooden shoes). All proceeds go to support the athletes heading the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.

Peter Stoffer (left) and CBC cameraman Patrick Sinclair.

Stoffer and British High Commissioner Andrew Pocock.

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A maquette of Elizabeth II

By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 10:50 PM - 0 Comments

As part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee there was a ceremony unveiling a maquette of Elizabeth II riding a horse that will stay on the Hill.

The maquette.

Speaker Andrew Scheer.

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Hip-hop bells and a diplomat’s misspent youth

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, February 20, 2012 at 11:05 AM - 0 Comments

Fred Chartrand/CP

Hip hop and the Peace Tower

There was much fanfare on the Hill during the week that kicked off celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. There was a House of Commons ceremony unveiling a small statue of Elizabeth II riding a horse. It will be placed outside the Library of Parliament for one year and then permanently installed in the Commonwealth Room in the Centre Block where there is already a bust of the Queen. The bells of the Peace Tower played a special selection of songs inspired from an assortment of British tunes. Andrea McCrady, who plays the carillon, the musical instrument made up of 53 bells in the Peace Tower, worked out a special program to mark the jubilee. She plays the bells live every weekday at noon, sometimes with the help of as many as six students. They practise in a special room on the Hill, but on Fridays they test things out on the Peace Tower bells when “not many people are around,” notes McCrady. “I play everything from Renaissance music to hip hop,” she says. For Flag Day on Feb. 15, she planned to play Wavin’ Flag by Somali-Canadian artist K’naan, who recently chastised U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney for using it during his campaign. McCrady doesn’t think K’naan will mind her 53-bell version.

‘Elegant’ Olympian butt

Last week, NDP MP Peter Stoffer launched an Olympic awareness campaign at his Ottawa office. In exchange for a donation, people can come to his office to shoot five darts, take five Nerf basketball shots, five shots of pool, five putts of golf and five kicks of a soccer ball. All proceeds go to support the athletes heading to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. His “opening ceremonies” included some celebrity guests: two former Olympic athletes, married couple Greg Joy and Sue Holloway, This Hour Has 22 Minutes host Mark Critch, Minister of State for Sport Bal Gosal, and British High Commissioner Andrew Pocock. “The colonies are going to kick some old-country butt,” said Stoffer. Pocock replied, “If the colonies are going to kick some butt, then it is going to be some extremely elegant butt.” Pocock was the first VIP to tackle the Stoffer pentathlon and managed to sink five out of five Nerf basketball shots. As he hit the pool table, Pocock quipped, “My misspent youth is coming back to me.” Double points were awarded for the soccer portion if the ball was kicked while wearing wooden shoes provided by Stoffer. In several cases, the wooden shoes went flying off the players’ feet and ended up whacking the door of NDP MP Dennis Bevington, whose office is across the hall. Gosal, who played a lot of soccer growing up, missed all his shots, which he did with a wooden shoe. The overall champion was Holloway with 180 points. She was followed by Critch (173), Joy (146), Pocock (164), and finally the minister of state for sport (111).

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Party politics is dragged into the ring

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, February 13, 2012 at 10:20 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

Will Trudeau go blue?

Things are heating up between Liberal MP Justin Trudeau, 40, and Conservative Sen. Patrick Brazeau, 37. The two are set to go at it in the ring on March 31 in a charity boxing match for Fight for the Cure. Trudeau trained as a boxer years ago and is currently working out in the ring and watching Tae Bo videos. Brazeau holds a second-degree black belt in karate. The fight will be for real. “If I break my nose, then I break my nose,” says Trudeau. The Liberal MP’s wife, Sophie Grégoire, has also helped her husband prepare for the showdown by purchasing Trudeau a robe with his name on the back. But Trudeau is not sure he can wear it. Says the MP, “The robe is blue and I’m fighting from the Liberal red corner!”

Minister skirts issue on transgendered

Much drama last week over the issue of transgendered people needing to match the sex on their identification when travelling by air. Gay Liberal MP Scott Brison could not resist a few one-liners. “I thought airport security was already a drag.” On how Transport Minister Denis Lebel handled himself in question period, Brison quipped, “The minister skirted the issue.” More seriously, Calgary Conservative MP Lee Richardson said such security issues could be solved if people, for example, “just matched their iris identification” within an enhanced security system.

Conservative advice for Occupiers

Alumni from Nova Scotia’s Mount Saint Vincent University gathered on the Hill for a reception. The event was hosted by Nova Scotia Liberal Sen. Jane Cordy, NDP MP Megan Leslie, who represents Halifax, and Conservative Sen. Nancy Ruth, who established Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at the Mount in the ’80s when the government at the time offered to create four women’s studies chairs across the country as long as the university matched the funding. Nancy Ruth stepped up and donated the $500,000 needed. She has an honorary degree from the Mount and last fall joined Sheila Fraser when the former auditor general received her honorary degree. At the time the senator spoke to a class of students who were supposed to hear a lecture about women and politics, but the students were more interested in asking her questions about the Occupy movement. “What do you do when the police come and pick you up?” asked one person. She told the students to find out who was on their police services board and added this advice: “Never protest alone, always work with other networks.” At the Hill reception, Liberal MP Geoff Regan asked that the attendees be told he had to leave before the speeches because he was on House duty. This prompted NDP MP Peter Stoffer to quip: “I’m on House duty but I’m not going.”

Speaker Andrew Scheer’s Robbie Burns dinner

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:08 AM - 0 Comments

Speaker Andrew Scheer.

Conservative MP Larry Miller.

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‘Knife control’ and Canada’s highland dancing MP

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, February 6, 2012 at 10:20 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

Scots on the Hill

Andrew Scheer continued the Speaker’s tradition of hosting a Robbie Burns dinner. Scheer does not own a kilt but did wear a plaid tie. Green Leader Elizabeth May said grace before MPs dug in. May, who had to put her theology studies on hold after moving to B.C., sported a plaid dress she bought at Suttles & Seawinds in Nova Scotia, and plaid shoes she’s had since 1991. Since she rarely wears them, they’re in pretty good shape, she says. Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino sported a small pin of an F-35 and Canadian flag. “We’ve procured this one,” quipped the minister, whose department’s multi-billion-dollar fighter jet procurement process has been hitting some snags.

Kirsty Duncan also attended Scheer’s dinner. The Liberal MP has deep Scottish roots. Her father is Scottish, and her mother played the bagpipes (although she was of Polish-Ukrainian descent); Duncan, who speaks Gaelic, did her Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh. She also danced for more than two decades with the 48th Highlanders of Canada, and still teaches Highland dance classes. Her record for most Robbie Burns events as a dancer was 53 over a two-week period in Toronto and southern Ontario. Her love for Burns came from her dad, Errol Duncan. As a child, she memorized a Burns poem every night. Her father gave her a book of Burns’s work that had been owned by her great-great-grandfather; its pages have grown thin, she says, and the cover is long gone.

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The power of Tolkien and a good cup of coffee

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, January 30, 2012 at 10:35 AM - 0 Comments

Photography by Mitchel Raphael

Conservatives watching every word

During a 2006 Liberal leadership debate, Michael Ignatieff told Stéphane Dion he “didn’t get the job done.” The phrase was picked up as a Conservative attack repeated so often in the House that even Tory cabinet ministers grew sick of saying it, which prompted Stephen Harper to remind them that it was only when they were sick of saying it was it actually penetrating into the general public. These days, Nathan Cullen is thinking a lot about the single wrong phrase that could hang over the heads of NDP leadership hopefuls. “You want to be careful, but at the same time, if you are not ready for sound-bite politics you are not ready for the big time,” he says.

One of the lessons he’s learned from his campaign so far has been the importance of how “you have to focus and not allow drama to enter your inner team.” It was something he read in a book Jack Layton gave him, The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama’s Historic Victory by David Plouffe. These days, Cullen is tackling The Lord of the Rings in French. He has read the books several times in English and says one of the best ways to improve language skills is to read familiar books. Some of the characters’ names have been changed a bit in French. Cullen adds that if during one of the NDP debates there is a Lord of the Rings question in French then he has the leadership “in the bag.” (Or is that Baggins?)

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NDP leadership debate in Toronto

By Mitchel Raphael - Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments

All the NDP leadership candidates gathered in Toronto to a  packed house.

The candidates.

The crowd.

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Thomas Mulcair in Toronto

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 4:49 PM - 0 Comments

NDP leadership candidate Thomas Mulcair held a town hall in Toronto at the 519 Church Street Community Centre.

David Harris (left), father of NDP MP Dan Harris, and Thomas Mulcair.

Mulcair and his wife Catherine Pinhas.

(l-r) NDP MP Dan Harris, Mulcair, opera star John Mac Master.

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Hammers and hospitality at the Liberal convention

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, January 23, 2012 at 8:05 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

Sheila Copps boogies

As Liberals descended on the capital for their biennial convention, tables were filled with Grit souvenirs including red foam hammers for “rebuilding.” When interim leader Bob Rae and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty spoke to delegates in the main hall, the jumbo screens happened to feature Justin Trudeau when each mentioned the future of the federal Liberal party. And while there was much talk at the convention about the prospect of Rae staying on as permanent leader, the buzz about Premier McGuinty going for the job increased dramatically after people checked out the party he had that night at Daly’s in the Westin Ottawa. The feast included a huge leg of meat, poutine, as well as mac and cheese with bacon. “With that kind of spread, he must be running for leader,” quipped one delegate. There was a constant lineup to get into the premier’s bash, which went late into the night. But the best party moment at the convention happened the night before when Sheila Copps held a shindig at the hip Mercury Lounge where she joined well-known Ottawa drag queen Dixie Landers on stage and boogied to Bette Midler’s version of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Copps was running for party president and lost to Mike Crawley.

Merger fashion statement? Continue…

Slimming down and eating pie on the campaign trail

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, January 16, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

Mom, can an MP crash here?

To keep expenses down, NDP leadership candidate and Ottawa MP Paul Dewar has been billeting at people’s homes as he tours the country. In the town of New Hamburg, Ont., Dewar was told he was being put up by Noam Gold-Utting. When the MP was introduced to Gold-Utting, he realized the NDP supporter was only 16. Gold-Utting first got involved with the NDP when he was 13 and now sits on the executive of his federal riding association. After the event, the teenager took Dewar back to his house but had failed to inform his parents he was hosting the MP. Luckily, they were pleased to help out their son’s guest. When asked if the parents were NDP supporters, Dewar quipped, “If they weren’t before, they are now.”

When visiting small towns, Dewar follows some sound advice he was given: try to meet the mayors and city councillors and find out their concerns. As he travels, people have been trying to get Dewar to eat more. He has slimmed down by a full suit size during the campaign. He says one of his big treat highlights so far has been the apple pie and cookies at the Anson Diner in Iroquois Falls, Ont. Aside from putting food in front of him, people have also been passing along articles of interest; one person gave him a button from a campaign in the late ’80s that said: “Canada’s our country. Let’s take it back.”

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Liberal Biennial Convention 2012 Ottawa

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 8:12 PM - 0 Comments

Martha Hall Findlay (left), Michael Igntieff.

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Stornaway’s new chef and the MP who delivered babies

By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 1:00 PM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Mitchel Raphael

What’s cooking at Stornoway?

Stornoway has a new chef. Kimberlee Rivet, 27, is one of the youngest head chefs at an official residence, not to mention one of the few female chefs. The last time Stornoway had a woman as chef was when former Liberal PM John Turner was leader of the Opposition, according to house staff. Before Stornoway, Rivet was working at Rideau Hall under the current Governor General David Johnston and his predecessor Michaëlle Jean. While interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel does not live in Stornoway because her Quebec riding is in the National Capital Region, the NDP does use the residence to entertain and have meetings, and Turmel has slept over on occasion.

Doctor in the House

Before the last election, only the Liberals had physicians in the Commons. The Conservatives now have Ontario MP Kellie Leitch, an orthopaedic surgeon, and the NDP has Quebec MP Djaouida Sellah. The NDP MP is originally from Algeria and worked as a volunteer doctor during the first Gulf War in Iraq, where “I delivered babies just with the light of candles during the war.” Nowadays she’s dealing with colleagues asking about a range of sniffle issues, fatigue, insomnia and even what to do about a fingernail infection: “Make some hot water with salt and put Polysporin on,” she told the MP. Last year, when a very pregnant NDP MP Sana Hassainia fainted in caucus, “I gave her my diagnosis and when she went to the hospital they gave her the same diagnosis,” says Sellah. She can’t write prescriptions, though. After spending years working to get her medical credentials recognized in Canada, she was almost finished the last part of her residency, which would have completed the process, when the election was called and she became part of the Orange Crush that hit Quebec.

10-year plan by 20-year-old Liberal

Zach Paikin is running for national policy chairman of the Liberal party at its biennial convention this month in Ottawa. He is the son of Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s political show The Agenda and moderator of several past federal election leadership debates. Zach Paiken is 20. When asked when his braces are coming off he says: “I’m not in a position to predict.” Paikin only owns one black suit but has numerous shirts and ties to mix it up. He only needs to shave once a week. Still, he has been endorsed by some top Liberal names, including Irwin Cotler, David Peterson, Scott Simms and Rodger Cuzner. Paikin, one of five candidates vying for the position, wants to change the delegate system to one where all party members have the right to vote, regardless of whether they can come to a convention. His political inspirations: Wilfrid Laurier, because he fought to keep the country together, Irwin Cotler, because of the MP’s sense of social justice, and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for “being a good leader in tough times.” Asked how long it will take for the Liberal party to rebuild itself, Paikin says he will be 30 when it happens.

The perks of sitting beside the heritage minister

Bev Oda’s mother keeps getting strange phone calls with questions like, “Did Bev change her hair?” or “She’s wearing bright colours now?” Oda, the minister of international co-operation, used to sit in the camera shot behind Stephen Harper in the House of Commons. She was moved months ago and replaced with Alice Wong, who also happens to be Asian-Canadian, which Oda says has confused some of her mother’s friends. Oda has been enjoying her new front bench seat next to Heritage Minister James Moore. One of the perks of sitting next to the heritage minister? She says Moore knows how to sync an iPod, iPhone and iPad so they work together.