More Toronto gay Pride events
By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, July 10, 2009 - 7 Comments
Part of Toronto Pride was its Gala & Awards ceremony where politicians hobnobbed with who’s who of the gay community.
Toronto Liberal MP Mario Silva.
Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty with drag queens.
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Toronto Pride: So this is what the Conservatives helped fund!
By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 1:50 PM - 25 Comments
There’s been much drama over this year’s announcement of the Conservative government funding Toronto Pride. But just who was at this mega gay parade? Men in leather jockstraps, drag queens and porn stars, naturally. But also pro-Israel groups, anti-Israel groups, gay Anglicans—and the Canadian Armed Forces doing recruitment. Several on-duty police forces wore festive gear. While politicians from the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, the Liberals and the NDP were out in full force. And Rick Mercer.
Iggy at Toronto Pride.
Toronto Liberal MP Bob Rae shows off his huge umbrella.
NDP leader Jack Layton, with his MP wife Olivia Chow, shows off his huge rainbow umbrella.
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The Commons: A thoroughly unsexy day
By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 9:12 PM - 58 Comments
The Scene. Michael Ignatieff wasted few words on the way to a rather devastating question.“Mr. Speaker, in private, the Minister of Natural Resources said that the isotope crisis was sexy, a means to advance her career,” he began in French. “So how can the Prime Minister explain the words of his minister to a woman who has just discovered she has breast cancer, is waiting for a test, but who cannot due to the isotope crisis?”
Standing opposite and speaking evenly, the Prime Minister proceeded directly to the government’s pat response.
“Mr. Speaker,” he said, “the crisis of isotopes is very serious.”
He reassured the nation and enthused about his minister and then returned to his seat.
Mr. Ignatieff seemed genuinely surprised.
“Mr. Speaker,” he exclaimed, “there was no apology, nothing. It’s amazing.”
The Liberal leader proceeded then to up the rhetorical ante. Continue…
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Mitchel Raphael on the picture that took 20 years to get
By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 1:40 PM - 0 Comments
Why the Ruby Dhalla story is not big in the Philippines, and how Bob Rae beat Ignatieff in the Parliamentarians of the Year awards
Gilles Duceppe’s short-lived acting career
At the third annual Maclean’s Parliamentarians of the Year awards gala, Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe was runner-up for most knowledgeable MP and best orator. He found the latter recognition “funny, because in Quebec they are saying I am not that good an orator. But here, I am very good.” Duceppe comes from a family passionate about theatre and film. When asked if this had influenced his oratorical skills, he noted: “I was not a good actor at all. I can’t play a role. I did only once for a Christmas play [in Grade 6 at his Catholic school]. The nuns had me play Saint Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary, which is the most awful role for a man to play—the husband of a virgin!” The awards gala was hosted by Maclean’s columnist Paul Wells and Le Devoir columnist and L’actualité magazine contributor Manon Cornellier.
Speaker Peter Milliken did the toast. Bob Rae won for best orator but could not attend—in his place he sent Toronto Grit MP Kirsty Duncan to fetch his award. (In 2007, when Michael Ignatieff won for best orator, he sent Ruby Dhalla on his behalf.) Toronto Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, who voted for Rae as best orator, said the reason Rae beat Ignatieff this year was that as leader “Michael doesn’t have as much time in the House. Bob gets more floor time.” Ontario NDP MP Joe Comartin won, for the second year in a row, the award for most knowledgeable MP. He said he can now place the extremely heavy awards in his Windsor, Ont., office because he just replaced his flimsy desk with a more solid one. For the third year in a row Nova 
Scotia NDP Peter Stoffer won most collegial. In second place was Liberal whip Rodger Cuzner, who noted: “I guess I’ve got to drink a little more [to beat Stoffer].” Cuzner said he wasn’t surprised that fellow Grit Paul Szabo once again won for hardest-working MP. Szabo sends new MPs a three-page letter filled with things they need to watch out for. “He wants to see everyone succeed,” says Cuzner. Halifax NDP MP Megan 
One of the highlights for her was seeing Garneau at the Canada Aviation Museum. “I really wanted to get my picture taken with him but I was too shy,” recalls Leslie. “So I took a picture of him by himself and it’s in my photo album still.” Twenty years later at the awards gala, Capital Diary snapped the first picture of Leslie and Garneau together. The NDP continued to dominate the awards for the third year, which had leader Jack Layton beaming all night. He noted the most knowledgeable MP, Joe Comartin, is his party’s justice critic and that the best rookie MP is their deputy justice critic. Layton also had kind words for the winner of best overall MP, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney: “He’s always a guy you can approach. I’ve always had a good relationship with Jason. He’s straight up. What you see is what you get.”
Another chip off the old Bloc The Bloc’s Paul Crête also did well in Maclean’s Parliamentarians of the Year poll. He placed third for most collegial MP and fourth for hardest-working. Crête has been an MP for nearly 16 years and was part of the wave of separatists elected when the party ran in its first federal election in 1993. It was a well-timed tribute to the MP, who will be leaving federal politics to run for the Parti Québécois, in a yet-to-be-announced Quebec by-election in the riding now vacant thanks to the resignation of ADQ leader Mario Dumont.
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Mitchel Raphael on a hill feeding frenzy
By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 12:20 PM - 1 Comment
Steyn’s Ezra quip and a very busy Mr. Oliphant
Those people on the Hill sure like free food
The Canadian Pork Council held a BBQ on the Hill (free pulled pork sandwiches!) to publicize the safety of their product in the midst of swine flu panic. It was the longest lineup Capital Diary had ever seen for a Hill reception. The final 30
people did not even get meat—some of them grabbed buns to soak up the leftover liquid in the serving pan. New Democrat Peter Stoffer was one of the few MPs who waited his turn in the endless line, even when organizers tried to pull him to the front for preferential treatment. The line went slower when cabinet ministers like Gerry Ritz (Agriculture) and Jean-Pierre Blackburn (National Revenue) took over from staff to do the serving. Everyone from Health Minister 
Leona Aglukkaq to Grit Leader Michael Ignatieff was chomping down. Conservative MP Shelly Glover noted she loves ham. “My kids live off of it,” says the mother of five, who was elected in the last election. (She is on leave from the Winnipeg Police Service, where she used to investigate crack houses and went undercover as a sex-trade worker.) Quipped deputy Speaker Andrew Scheer at the BBQ: “This is the good kind of pork on Parliament Hill.”
Who knew Justin had a tattoo?Last year, Nova Scotia Grit Mike Savage was the lone MP to take up the Canadian Paraplegic Association’s challenge to spend a day in a wheelchair. This year, several politicians participated, including Conservative MP Dona Cadman and senators such as Olympic skiing gold medallist Nancy Greene Raine. They experienced first-hand the challenges of being in a wheelchair—travelling over carpets or hitting inaccessible committee rooms on the Hill. The day ended with wheelchair races. When Justin Trudeau took on his Toronto Liberal colleague Martha Hall Findlay, he suggested she
remove her jacket. When she did and it was revealed she was sleeveless underneath, Trudeau, who was already without a jacket and tie, stripped down to his sleeveless undershirt. (A few people were surprised to see a small tattoo of the earth on his upper left arm.) He won for fastest male MP, but beat Hall Findlay only by a slim margin. It should be noted, however, that Hall Findlay had a “wardrobe malfunction.” Her bra straps slipped off her shoulders and she had to pause to push them back up. -
Israel at 61, quality food, students join senator in elevator
By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 5:31 PM - 0 Comments
The Canadian Friends of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Canada-Israel Committee held a special reception on the Hill in honour of Israel’s 61st year of independence.
Toronto-area Tory MP Peter Kent and Merle Goldman, Associate National Director of the Canadian Friends of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Conservative B.C. MP James Lunney, Chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group.
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MPs dole out the pork, literally
By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 12:50 PM - 4 Comments
The Canadian Pork Council held a Hill BBQ to show the safety of Canada’s white meat in the midst of the panic over the H1N1 swine flu.
Labour Minister Rona Ambrose serves up the pork.
Iggy chows down.
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The Commons: "To all our parliamentarians, where are you?"
By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 6:21 PM - 31 Comments
The Scene. Aside from the lonely man in religious garb who often spends his days pacing in front of pictures lamenting abortion, the sight of a public protest on Parliament Hill is perhaps rarer than you might assume. Yesterday, a couple hundred young people sat in circles and smoked pot, though this seemed less an act of defiance than a lazy way to spend a spring afternoon.For a week now though, crowds of varying size have lined Wellington Street, near the imposing Langevin Block that houses the Prime Minister and his staff, and chanted incessantly about the civil war in Sri Lanka. This afternoon, in perhaps a climactic show of force, more than 30,000 Tamils filled the front lawn, waving black flags, denouncing violence and generally insisting on the world’s attention.
Not that many noticed. Or at least seemed interested in noticing. Indeed, for all the politicians in the immediate vicinity, only the NDP’s Jack Layton was reported to have addressed the crowd. In the midst of the demonstration, the matter merited just three queries in Question Period—ministers Lawrence Cannon and Bev Oda compelled to offer answers for a situation without an obvious solution. Afterwards, Liberal Jim Karygiannis rose on a point of order and requested that the House schedule an emergency debate on the matter. He was promptly shouted down. Continue…
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A very different kind of red book launched
By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 2:44 AM - 1 Comment
Rudyard Griffiths, co-founder of the Dominion Institute, held the Toronto launch of his book, Who We Are: A Citizen’s Manifesto at Toronto’s Ultra Supper Club. According to the publisher, the book is “a passionate call for Canadians to take stock and reengage with our country and its values before we falter as a nation.”
Marc Chalifoux, Executive Director of the Dominion Institute.
Joseph Lavoie of Navigator Limited. He’s also a former winner on Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister.
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MPs get close with statue: Genies coming to Ottawa
By Mitchel Raphael - Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 11:16 AM - 16 Comments
As part of the lead up to the Genie Awards in Ottawa on April 4, Susan Smith of Bluesky Strategy Group has been schlepping a giant Genie statue all over the Hill and getting folks to pose with it. There was a even a special screening in the Speaker Peter Milliken’s dining room of clips of some of the films nominated where folks like Newfoundland Liberal MP Scott Simms (below) got to pose with Genie.
Heritage Minister James Moore and Sara Morton, CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
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Transit people host political people
By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, February 2, 2009 at 7:37 PM - 3 Comments
The Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) held a special reception for MPs in the Quebec room at the Fairmont Château Laurier. Below are Louis Alexandre Lanthier (from Justin Trudeau’s office), Tommy Desfossés, Speaker Peter Milliken and Liberal MP Rob Oliphant.
Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett and Milliken.
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Newfoundlanders gather in a have-not province
By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, December 15, 2008 at 10:18 PM - 0 Comments
The Smiling Land Foundation is a group of Newfoundlanders who gather to raise money for charities. Recently they and their friends held an event at the Masonic Temple (or CTV/MTV Temple) in Toronto for Daffodil Place. This is a facility they plan to build so people will have the comforts of home when they travel to get cancer treatment in St. John’s. Newfoundlander Seamus O’Regan co-hosted the event.
As did Mary Walsh.
Guests included former Newfoundlander premier Brian Tobin.
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Newbie MPs
By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, December 15, 2008 at 4:02 PM - 0 Comments
Krista Balsom (below), who works in newly-elected Liberal MP Judy Foote’s office, organized a fundraiser which welcomed new MPs at the Ottawa club Diesel.
Newfoundland MP Foote.
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Eulogy for a government?
By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 3:03 AM - 56 Comments
Rob Oliphant is a slight, unimposing man, one of the rookie Liberals who fill the back row of the opposition side. His is a united church minister with a degree in commerce. He was an advisor to David Peterson’s government in Ontario and Michael Ignatieff’s campaign for the Liberal leadership in 2006. He currently represents the riding vacated by John Godfrey, another slight, unimposing man.
In the moments before Jim Flaherty delivered the government’s economic and fiscal statement, the House was going through the motions of debating the speech from the throne. Oliphant was the last member of parliament to speak in full before the Speaker called on the finance minister. The government benches had been filling as he spoke and were full by the time he finished, but save for a few Liberals in Oliphant’s immediate vicinity, almost no one seemed to notice his remarks. Everything that has transpired since has, of course, reduced him to the stuff of footnote.
But if we are in the final days of Stephen Harper’s government, here was a crushing, if inadvertent, eulogy. Continue…
