MPs and veterans book

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 7:00 AM - 0 Comments

The Historica-Dominion Institute recently launched We Were Freedom: Canadian Stories of the Second World War, a collection of 65 of the veteran stories collected in a book as part of the Institute Canadian oral history project. Below, Heritage Minister James Moore.

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Liberal Senator Terry Mercer.

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NDP MP Peter Stoffer.

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The book.

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The food.

Mitchel Raphael on moustaches—and MPs worth a Halloween visit

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 11:20 AM - 0 Comments

NDP MP Peter Stoffer has his 'stache shaved for Movember | Sean Kilpatrick/CP

Scott Brison’s lonely night
Two of Glen Pearson’s adopted children arrived from Sudan three years ago, knowing nothing about Halloween. After explaining the concept, the Liberal MP woke up on his kids’ first Halloween in Canada to find them in costume, all set to trick or treat. When he broke the news that they’d have to wait until dark, “They both burst into tears because they thought they got to go out all day to people’s houses and get candy.” They felt better that night, once they had sacks of treats. “It was something they never dreamed of as possible,” says the MP. Now, Pearson’s Halloween tradition is to stay home handing out treats while his kids hit the streets. Newfoundland Liberal MP Siobhan Coady has fine-tuned her Halloween handouts. “My sister is allergic to nuts so I always make sure I have a nut-free option. I also give out chips, chocolate, and Play-Doh. It’s a little surprise.” Minister for International Co-operation Bev Oda, when at home for Halloween, knows all six kids who come to her door in the sparsely populated area. Her tradition is to give them presents, including MP3 players and video games. Halloween is a lonely time for Liberal MP Scott Brison and spouse Maxime Saint-Pierre. “There are three houses on our road,” he says. “We own two, and the other belongs to my 90-year-old aunt Margie [Faulkner].” They keep candy on hand just in case, but no one ever knocks. “It kinda reminds me of my fifth birthday party,” says Brison. “My mother had this great party. Nobody showed.”

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Navy Appreciation Day on the Hill

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 6:55 AM - 0 Comments

Defense Minister Peter MacKay addressed a packed room of Navy personnel as part of Navy Appreciation Day on the Hill. The event also celebrated the service’s 100^th anniversary.

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NDP MP Peter Stoffer (centre).

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Remembering Mario Lagüe

By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, October 8, 2010 at 10:09 AM - 0 Comments

A remembrance night was held last week for Liberal communications director Mario Lagüe, who died in a motorcycle accident in August.

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Liberal MP Stéphane Dion.

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Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and his wife Zsuzsanna Zsohar.

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153-150

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, September 20, 2010 at 9:45 AM - 0 Comments

Peter Stoffer has decided to switch sides as it relates to House votes on the gun registry, which, by this unofficial count, makes it 153 votes against C-391, which, in theory, clinches defeat for the bill.

CBC has the government trying to arrive at a Plan B in the event C-391 does fail.

Swing votes

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 4:10 PM - 0 Comments

NDP MP Niki Ashton will disclose tomorrow how she plans to vote on C-391. Peter Stoffer, previously committed to voting in favour of C-391, says he’ll have something to say on Monday. John Rafferty, another yes vote, says his mind hasn’t changed. Bruce Hyer says he won’t vote for a Liberal motion that would effectively scrap C-391.

149 to 148

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 1:03 PM - 0 Comments

Postmedia finds three NDP MPs who are committed to voting in favour of C-391: Peter Stoffer, Dennis Bevington and Jim Maloway. Carol Hughes is undecided. A spokesperson for John Rafferty, the NDP MP for Thunder Bay, says Mr. Rafferty will only comment on his stance to the local media. (The hilarity of this position aside—the invention of the telegraph in 1794 making it relatively easy to transmit news from one city to another—it should at least compel someone from the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal to give Mr. Rafferty a call sometime today.)

Nonetheless, while we wait to see to which media outlet Mr. Rafferty will reveal his decision, nine NDP votes now remain in play, or at least unaccounted for. Those belong to Malcolm Allen, Charlie Angus, Niki Ashton, Nathan Cullen, Claude Gravelle, Hughes, Bruce Hyer, Rafferty and Glenn Thibeault.

The potential math of this vote has previously been laid out. But for the purposes of keeping score—including the votes of Messrs Mark and Bevilacqua for now, with only Judy Wasylcia-Leis’ seat officially vacant—the known tally at this moment is 149 votes in favour, 148 votes against.

Mitchel Raphael on what Belinda Stronach learned about latrines

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 10:00 AM - 72 Comments

Why toilets matter more than teachers
Former Liberal cabinet minister Belinda Stronach held a special G(irls)20 summit in Toronto as a warm-up to the G20 hitting the city. Twenty-one women from the G20 countries and the African Union gathered to participate in workshops fostering ideas to tackle global challenges. Stronach said what struck her was the order of priorities in many developing countries when it comes to educating girls. The number one need is for dormitories, especially for girls who live far from a school and don’t have proper security for the trek. Next come latrines: some schools only have boys’ washrooms—or none at all. Then come teachers, and last on the list are books. “It’s a reminder of how unsafe some of these places are for young women,” says Stronach. When asked if the G(irls)20 summit also featured a “fake lake,” Stronach noted, “This is a very serious endeavour. We have a lot of sponsors and we manage their money very carefully.”

MPs say it with hair
Many MPs rushed over worriedly when Bloc MP Nicole Demers, a breast cancer survivor, turned up recently with a shaved head. She calmed their fears, telling them she’d shaved—for the fourth time—to support Leucan, a Quebec organization for children with leukemia and other cancers. “This is for kids to realize they are not alone,” Demers says. Also using her tresses to promote a cause is Vancouver Liberal MP Joyce Murray, who has been sporting bright red hair as part of the cystic fibrosis awareness campaign Reddy for a Cure. The campaign honours Eva Markvoort, a fiery redhead who blogged about her ordeal with CF and died at the age of 25. How long will Murray keep the bright red locks? She quipped, “Well, Canada Day is coming.” Nothing says Canada Day like red.

The fake lake lives on
The “fake lake” at Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff ’s annual garden party for the media was so popular that the Grits decided to keep it for the subsequent MP and staff parties. But the kids’ swimming pool, complete with fake ducks to create a Muskoka-like “fake lake” ambience, had to be dismantled and set up again for each party, lest it destroy the lawn. Noted one Liberal staffer, “We’d get in trouble with the NCC [National Capital Commission].” Jokes about the Conservatives’ “fake lake” were a constant on the Hill as Parliament wound down for the summer. Justin Trudeau’s aide Louis-Alexandre Lanthier cracked, “They build a fake lake right beside Lake Ontario—can you imagine if the G20 had been held in Niagara Falls?”

Why he won’t run for mayor
There has been buzz on the Hill about whether Nova Scotia NDP Peter Stoffer will run for mayor of Halifax in the next election. He says it all started when he was asked if he would consider entering the race and simply replied, “I never say never”—thereby sparking a frenzy of speculation. For the record, then: Stoffer says he is the candidate for his riding in the next federal election and if re-elected—almost certain for the popular MP—will serve out his mandate. He says he does not like it when politicians job-hop, sticking taxpayers with a costly by-election.

What the Speaker can’t speak about
Protesters on the lawn of Parliament Hill made a ruckus over the closure of prison farms, created in the late 1800s. Save Our Prison Farms notes on its website that the government fails to appreciate “the value of a restorative approach to justice and a sustainable, local approach to the future of farming and food.” The government says the program was losing money and questions the marketability of agricultural skills post-prison. One riding hit hard by the closures is Speaker Peter Milliken’s. The Speaker has to remain neutral on such issues, but his riding office has been getting an earful over the closures.

Mitchel Raphael on John Baird's mom, his Grade 7 teacher, her sister . . .

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 9:20 AM - 5 Comments

Kelly Block and the Bloc
MPs from all parties took home prizes at Maclean’s fourth annual Parliamentarians of the Year awards ceremony held in the West Block. For the fourth time in a row, Nova Scotia NDP MP Peter Stoffer won for Most Collegial. (Stoffer said he voted for Liberal whip Rodger Cuzner, a fellow Nova Scotian, who came in second.) Ted Menzies got the prize for Hardest Working MP. It was the first year the Bloc won awards: Gilles Duceppe for Most Knowledgeable and Robert Bouchard for Best Represents Constituents. There was even a joke that the party was on a roll when it was announced that Saskatchewan Conservative Kelly Block had won for Rising Star. Toronto Liberal MP Bob Rae won for Best Orator, which was not surprising since he seems to be one of the few MPs who can ask a question in the House without reading from a piece of paper and can even do a follow-up question that takes into account the answer he just got from the government. The big winner of the night, though, was Transport Minister John Baird, who was named Parliamentarian of the Year.

Attending the awards ceremony was Baird’s mother, Marianne Anderson. Anderson told Capital Diary she tapes question period every day and watches it in the evening. Besides her son, her favourite people to watch in QP are Liberal MP Hedy Fry and NDP Leader Jack Layton. Also there to honour Baird was his Grade 7 teacher Kay Stanley, who happens to be Tory Senate leader Marjory LeBreton’s sister. “John was a very curious student,” said Stanley, who is credited with getting Baird into politics. Stanley used to have a phone in her classroom because she was head of the local teachers’ federation. But she was also heavily involved with the Progressive Conservative party and once received a call during class from then-PC leader Joe Clark. That really impressed Baird. “I never thought my sister and John would end up in cabinet together,” says Stanley. LeBreton said Baird always calls her “Marg, like in The Simpsons. So I call him Homer.” Laureen Harper, who often has Baird as her date at Ottawa social functions, was also at the party. When Stephen Harper famously surprised guests at the National Arts Centre by playing the piano, Mrs. Harper said Baird got a text from a friend saying: “It’s a real drag when your date’s husband shows up.” The night of the awards, Baird had a fundraiser scheduled in his riding so he sent Defence Minister Peter MacKay there in his place. Labour Minister Lisa Raitt, who was at the Maclean’s awards ceremony, said she learned that Baird has two stories he tells every time at fundraisers. She said that when she heard one of them the first time, “I thought it was the funniest joke I ever heard and I believed it as a true story.” Baird describes going to a rickety old house no one ever hits while campaigning in the dead of winter. The person opens the door and says, “Who are you and why are you bothering me? I hate everything to do with the government.” Baird’s punchline? “I’m Dalton McGuinty and I’m here to get your vote for the Liberal party.” Baird’s award wasn’t without controversy. According to Toronto Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, “Anyone who has such great disdain for Parliament and parliamentary procedure makes it an embarrassing evening for Maclean’s. It makes a mockery of the contest.” Though Newfoundland Liberal MP Scott Simms noted that, “given the fact Parliament is immature, maybe it’s a good choice. Despite the bravado, Baird is an approachable guy. But I once called him a blowfish in the House.”

The MP and the pilots
Tory MP Patrick Brown hosted a special reception in the West Block for Air Canada’s pilots union. There are more than 200 Air Canada pilots who live in Barrie, Ont., the city Brown represents. That’s because pilots, Brown explained, must live close to the airport they work out of and Barrie is near Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. The Barrie pilots have a monthly pub night and a hockey league. Brown says Barrie is nicknamed “Terminal 4,” a reference to when Pearson had three terminals.

Jason Kenney couldn’t stop laughing
During a scrum on his immigration bill, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was told that Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, an outspoken MP who at times rubs people the wrong way, was complaining that had the bill in its current form been around when he immigrated to Canada from Greece, he would not have been allowed into the country. A cheeky journalist immediately asked, “Will the bill be retroactive?” Kenney started to crack up and couldn’t continue.

One ballroom, two very different days
The Council of Arab League Ambassadors in Ottawa held a celebration to showcase their countries in the Fairmont Château Laurier ballroom. Tables were set up highlighting a variety of Middle Eastern cultures, though Palestinian representatives kept their table empty as a sign of mourning for the aid flotilla that attempted to reach Gaza. The honoured guest was Senate Speaker Noël Kinsella. Treasury Board President Stockwell Day’s aide noted that the previous day the room had been made kosher by rabbis because Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was supposed to have had an event there but had to return to Israel early to deal with the flotilla crisis.

The Maclean’s Parliamentarians of the Year party was sponsored by TD Bank Financial Group, Pfizer Canada, the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association and Wayne Gretzky Estates winery and was hosted in association with the Historica-Dominion Institute and L’actualité.

Most Collegial: Peter Stoffer

By Claire Ward - Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 11:55 PM - 1 Comment

Photograph by Blair Gable

When Peter Stoffer heard that Canadian Blood Services was planning to move its only New Brunswick location in Saint John to Dartmouth, N.S., he was concerned for his neighbours. “I’m the kind of person who never really likes robbing Peter to pay Paul,” says the NDP member for Sackville–Eastern Shore. Having heard the motion by Conservative MP for Saint John Rodney Weston asking for all-party support to convince CBS to keep the New Brunswick facility open, Stoffer picked up the phone. “I called Rodney to find out exactly what was going on.” Three days later, Stoffer was on a conference call with Mike Savage [Liberal MP for Dartmouth—Cole Harbour] and representatives from CBS.

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Accountability hysteria

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, May 21, 2010 at 12:34 PM - 30 Comments

Government house leader Jay Hill, a spokesman for the Board of Internal Economy, laments the attention the current debate over MP expenses has received, but acknowledges it might be discussed further at the board. Fisheries Minister Gail Shea isn’t concerned either way. Conservative Daryl Kramp says an auditor general audit is inevitable but unnecessary. The NDP caucus is split: Charlie Angus says it needs to be worked out with the auditor general, Pat Martin, Peter Stoffer and Peter Julian say open the books, Yvon Godin is obstinate. Liberal Marlene Jennings calls for disclosure. Liberal Bryon Wilfert defends the status quo.

Information wants to be free

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 9:24 AM - 22 Comments

Liberals Siobhan Coady and Martha Hall Findlay and New Democrat Peter Stoffer say the auditor general should be invited to review MP expenses—joining Gilles Duceppe and the aforementioned Michelle Simson on that side of the debate.

Independent Andre Arthur, harbouring some general mistrust of accountants, says all details should simply be made public.

Mitchel Raphael on who Laureen Harper got Paul Gross to call and dancing Senators

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 3:20 PM - 1 Comment

Peter Milliken’s ‘luxury’ lodgings
In the course of reporting on Peter Milliken’s decision to release uncensored documents about transferred Afghan detainees, the National Post’s Don Martin noted that the Speaker’s job “comes with a luxury apartment inside the Centre Block.” Years back, tired of journalists constantly referring to the Centre Block apartment as “luxurious,” Milliken invited some of them in to take a look at the lodgings: it’s basically two large walk-in closets with a cheap single bed. That stopped the journalists for a while—until Martin’s story. Milliken’s fabulous official residence, the Farm at Kingsmere, is of course another story.

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Senators boogie on the dance floor at All-Party Party

By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 9:15 AM - 7 Comments

The final All-Party Party organized by NDP MP Peter Stoffer packed 200 West Block. The building is scheduled for major maintenance and will be closed for years. Below, Liberal Senator David Smith (left) and Tory Senator Nancy Ruth take to the dance floor.

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Liberal MP Siobhan Coady.

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MPs say cheese please

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, May 3, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 3 Comments

The Dairy Farmers of Canada held a reception at the Fairmont Château Laurier. Below, Minister of International Trade Peter Van Loan.

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NDP MP Peter Stoffer.

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Tory MP Ted Menzies, parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance, shows off a real “butter” tart.

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Mitchel Raphael on the end of the blond troika and the new minister of everything

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 11:20 AM - 5 Comments

By Mitchel Raphael

SOME NEW FACES IN THE HOUSE WHEN HARPER IS SPEAKING

No longer in the Conservative caucus, Helena Guergis now sits as an independent in the back row of the House. Guergis was part of the blond troika behind Stephen Harper, picked up by the TV cameras whenever he rose in the Commons. The other two were Lisa Raitt and Diane Ablonczy. Now the three blonds in the shot have been replaced with dark-haired MPs: Minister for International Co-operation Bev Oda, Minister of State Denis Lebel, and Rona Ambrose, who took over Guergis’s status of women portfolio. Ambrose now has one of the longest titles in the government: minister of public works and government services Canada and the receiver general of Canada, minister for status of women, vice-president of the Treasury Board, and regional minister for northern Alberta. Or as one MP joked: “Minister of everything.” Ambrose got back recently from a trip to Afghanistan with Defence Minister Peter MacKay. In Kandahar, the two stopped by the Tim Hortons, where the cups are designed to look like camouflage and the prizes for Roll Up the Rim to Win included special edition Kandahar hats. Neither Ambrose nor MacKay won anything.

By Mitchel Raphael

IT’S THAT FRENCH TEACHER’S FAULT

NDP MP Glenn Thibeault was recently in the House foyer going over notes for a French TV interview. The Ontario MPfor Sudbury has been trying to work on his French in an effort to become bilingual. Thibeault comes from a francophone family. When he was younger, his parents sent him to a French immersion school. One of his teachers told him he must learn “French” French and not Quebec French and his parents were so insulted they pulled him out and put him into a regular English school where he lost all his French. He’s currently taking three hours a week of French lessons. He is the youngest in his family and now gets his siblings and parents to speak only French to him—“even if I don’t understand,” he jokes.

SHE’S THAT FABULOUS

Jer’s Vision fifth anniversary gala in Ottawa celebrated those who have helped battle bullying and homophobia. The event was hosted by Global National anchor Kevin Newman, who spoke publicly for the first time about his gay son, Alex Newman. Kevin Newman was the first person to interview NDP MP Libby Davies on TV when she came out. At last year’s event, Davies won a Youth Role Model of the Year award. This time one went to Liberal MP Hedy Fry. One of the youth who nominated Fry noted in a letter that he realized he was gay and went to a Pride parade where he met the MP. “When I asked her what it was like to be gay, she said she was not gay but she was proud to stand with another individual and celebrate working toward equality. I was inspired how someone could be so fabulous, and not even be gay.”

By Mitchel Raphael

THANKS FOR THE SHIRT, I THINK

During his visit to Ottawa, New Zealand PM John Key was presented with an Olympic Team Canada hockey jersey by Stephen Harper. In return, Key presented Harper with a very fitted New Zealand All Blacks rugby shirt. Harper quipped that the New Zealand PM would have an easier time getting into the baggy hockey jersey than he would getting into his gift.

THE VERY LAST ALL-PARY PARTY

NDP MP Peter Stoffer says April 28 will be the last All-Party Party. The bash has been held in 200 West Block for years, but now the building will be closed as of this summer for several years for renovations and asbestos removal. Stoffer says there is not a large enough space elsewhere on the Hill to accommodate MPs and Hill staff, and also that if it were held somewhere else, it would be too costly.

Parties unite for prostate cancer

By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 10:20 AM - 9 Comments

All parties were united by wearing blue to show their support for NDP leader Jack Layton in his battle with prostate cancer. The men were given ties and the women were given scarves by Prostate Cancer Canada. Below, Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose.

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Liberal MP Justin Trudeau.

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MPs herd over to eat beef

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 7:38 PM - 2 Comments

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association were on the Hill and held a beef
reception which had 200 West Block packed. Beef gets MPs and staffers
every time. Below, Liberal MP Mark Eyking.

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Liberal MP Justin Trudeau.

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'I can assure you nobody is getting their moat paid for'

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 10:18 AM - 15 Comments

Stephen Maher asks and both Michael Ignatieff and Gilles Duceppe say they’re open to allowing Sheila Fraser to audit MP expenses. Peter Stoffer says he’ll release details of his expenses, but then says he can’t.

Last week, Stoffer, the NDP MP for Sackville-Eastern Shore, said he believes Fraser should be allowed to examine Parliament’s books and promised to check to see if he could reveal at least the details of his own expenses. On Monday, he said he checked with Davies and was forbidden from doing so, since the board of internal economy handles all such questions.

Whatever the authority of the Board, it hasn’t prevented Liberal backbencher Michelle Simson from publishing a breakdown of her expenses.

Post-Throne Speech party

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, March 8, 2010 at 12:33 PM - 6 Comments

After the Throne Speech, folks gathered in the Hall of Honour. Below, Auditor General Sheila Fraser (left) and Tory Senator Nancy Ruth.

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Conservative Senator Partrick Brazeau.

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Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson.

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NDP MP Peter Stoffer helps serve sushi.

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Canadian astronaut Julie Payette (left) and Senate Leader Marjory LeBreton.

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Christopher White, the founder of Canadians Against Prorogation, with NDP MP Linda Duncan.

Mitchel Raphael on iggy's 'heroine' and odd jobs for the speaker during down times

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 8:40 AM - 1 Comment

Cost-cutting cupcakes
The series of round tables by Liberals on the Hill last week included a day dedicated to women’s issues, organized by Winnipeg MP Anita Neville. At lunch (where cupcakes decorated with pink roses were made by a Liberal staffer to keep costs down), the keynote speaker was former Progressive Conservative foreign minister Flora MacDonald.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff called her one of his “personal heroines.” MacDonald made sure to tell the Liberal audience she was having dinner that night with former NDP leader Alexa McDonough, thereby covering all her political bases. She talked of her work in Afghanistan, particularly in the province of Bamyan where the Taliban

famously defaced the giant Buddhas. Her accomplishments have included bringing solar panels to small villages, starting tree planting programs, establishing schools, and participating in local customs: “I have never seen anyone drink as much tea as the people of

Afghanistan.” Also at the lunch was Montreal MP Irwin Cotler, who has a special connection to MacDonald. In 1979, Cotler, a law professor at the time, was expelled from the Soviet Union for his work with Soviet Jewry, particularly his ties with refusenik Natan Sharansky. Cotler was ordered to board a Japanese airliner without a boarding pass.

Fortunately it was flying to London. MacDonald arranged a press conference when Cotler’s plane landed there and met him personally when he got to Ottawa. He also notes that she suspended a bilateral agreement with the Soviets. Notes Cotler: “She was a foreign affairs minister who acted on principle. I never forgot that.”

The story of the seven keys
When former foreign minister Flora MacDonald spoke to Liberals about her trip to Afghanistan she told everyone in the room they had to go see the special exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Civilization called Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures. The day before, Heritage Minister James Moore had taken Afghanistan’s ambassador, Jawed Ludin, and two Afghan MPs on a special tour of the exhibit, which was saved by workers at the Kabul museum in 1979 during the Soviet invasion. The treasures were hidden in a vault in the presidential palace. Seven keys were needed to open the vaults and were kept by seven different workers, who hid the relics for fear of looting and later concern they would be destroyed by the Taliban. Ludin was working in the presidential palace when the vaults were opened in 2003. It was believed the treasures would be safe with President Hamid Karzai in power. Ludin told Capital Diary they were lucky they got all seven keys because one of the holders had died in Pakistan and his children, who had had no idea what the key was for, managed to get it to the palace.

Milliken to the rescue
Prorogation has meant Speaker Peter Milliken has been able to catch up on his correspondence: he finally finished doing letters from six months ago that required a handwritten response. He also recently took on another duty. During the Liberals’ round-table discussion on women’s issues, one female attendee went up to him in the Hall of Honour and said the Hill must normally not see this many women because all the women’s washrooms in the area had run out of both paper towels and toilet paper. The Speaker said he would get right on it.

Stoffer eyes neighbour’s space
NDP MP Peter Stoffer’s enormous hat and pin collection has now almost filled his office. With little room left on the walls, he says he is eyeing the space of his neighbour, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh. But Dosanjh quips he won’t be moving for the sake of a pin and hat expansion unless Stoffer can find him a bigger office with a better view on the second floor of the Confederation Building. That said, the Vancouver MP says he still always likes being on a low floor.

The most important book on the Hill

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, November 30, 2009 at 12:06 PM - 34 Comments

The launch of the second edition of House of Commons Procedure and Practice was held in the Speaker’s dining room. Speaker Peter Milliken (left) with the book’s co-editors Audrey O’Brien, Clerk of the House of Commons and Marc Bosc, Deputy Clerk.

NDP MP Peter Stoffer gets his copy autographed by O’Brien.

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Mitchel Raphael on who’s new at 24 sussex and why MP hall parties have been banned

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 10:50 AM - 3 Comments

The death of Transport Minister John Baird’s cat Thatcher caused international headlines when a “Thatcher’s dead” electronic message had Stephen Harper’s officials calling London to confirm whether Margaret Thatcher had in fact died. They discovered the former British PM was very much alive. The source of the confusion, Thatcher the cat, was a gift to Baird from four friends when he was a staffer in the Mulroney government. “She saw me through the defeat in ’93, then through four successful runs [provincially and federally],” says Baird. Thatcher even appeared on CTV News and Canada AM. No word yet if the transport minister will get another cat. Laureen Harper, who often fosters kittens at 24 Sussex, says Baird “needs time to grieve. Who knows how long that will take? But one day he will wake up and want a new four-footed companion. Until that time we have to wait.”

New pets, meanwhile, have moved in to the homes of party leaders. Rachel Harper got a new Russian dwarf hamster named Jasper. The latest 24 Sussex resident is “not too bright,” according to Laureen Harper, “but he loves Cheerios with peanut butter in the middle.” Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and his wife, Zsuzsanna Zsohar, got two kittens a while back and NDP Leader Jack Layton and his MP wife, Olivia Chow, recently welcomed two cockatoos into their Toronto home. The birds are yet to be named. Green Leader Elizabeth May says that when she moved to her new riding in Sidney, B.C., “I adopted a spider for a while. I called her Charlotte.” May’s dog Spunky went to university in Halifax with her daughter. Her cat Rosie moved with her to Sidney. Only one party leader has no pets, and never will. According to an official in Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe’s office, “Mr. Duceppe has many allergies, so he can’t have any pets.”

WHERE WAS THE HALL MONITOR?
NDP MP Peter Stoffer wanted to have a hall party to help increase the huge collection of hats and pins in his office. So huge is the collection that when he was asked to move offices a while back the officials took one look at the walls and told him to stay put. Hall parties are a tradition on the Hill. MPs often have them when a few decide to open their offices for a get-together and need the space for spillover. Unfortunately, at a recent bash an overenthusiastic partygoer threw up in the hall. Stoffer says he was told by Kevin Vickers, sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons, that because of that incident there would be no more hall parties.

CRIME, JUSTICE and some CANNED TOMATOES
Neil Murphy, 22, has a front-row family seat when it comes to politics. He was recently on the Hill to visit his two MP uncles. Brian Murphy, a Liberal MP from New Brunswick, is Neil’s father’s brother. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is his mother’s brother. Back in New Brunswick, Neil is doing a stint in Brian Murphy’s constituency office dealing with issues like crime concerns and other things constituents get upset about, like the person who came into the office demanding the health minister be called over a purchase of expired  canned tomatoes. Neil suggested the constituent speak to the supermarket first.

Iggy and the airport train
One of Michael Ignatieff’s favourite things to do in Vancouver is to take the SkyTrain’s new Canada Line, which carries people from the airport to downtown. He has done it twice now and promises he’ll always take it when he comes to town, even if he becomes prime minister. The RCMP may have something to say about that.

Baldly going where no senator has

By Scott Feschuk - Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 12:34 PM - 49 Comments

Is it too soon to nominate the 2010 Maclean’s Parliamentarian of the Year? Because I vote for Senator Mike Duffy. Other politicians may achieve the improbable—passing a private member’s bill, for instance, or shutting up for two consecutive seconds (keep trying, John Baird)—but the former TV show host has done the impossible: he has made the people of Canada actually pay attention to a senator.

For decades now, being appointed to the upper chamber has been like joining a club—not a cool club like the Friars Club or even a useful club like the Hair Club for Men, but a club whose proceedings go entirely unnoticed by society at large. Think of it as Fight Club but with naps instead of fist fights. Continue…