Great moments in geographic politics

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

A few footnotes to the Trudeau imbroglio.

In 2006, the Bloc Quebecois produced a newspaper ad that read “Don’t let Calgary decide for Quebec.” (Note the cowboy hat over the “r” in Calgary.)

Nine years before that, as Kevin Libin notes in that Western Standard blog post, the Reform party produced a television ad that called for a “voice for all Canadians, not just Quebec politicians.” This drew a bit of criticism. Here is how the Canadian Press reported the story at the time. (Note the former Reform MP who was consulted for analysis.) Continue…

Standing down

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at 11:49 AM - 0 Comments

Elizabeth May suggests that, in the event of a by-election in Etobicoke Centre, the Greens and NDP should stand down to allow for a straightforward grudge match between Ted Opitz and Borys Wrzesnewskyj.

Although Ms. May she said would not normally urge her party to stay off a ballot, the situation in Etobicoke Centre is highly unusual. If anyone was unfairly denied a seat in that riding it was Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, she said, and if there is a by-election it should be “a clean vote between Borys and Ted.”

Ms. May has some history in this regard: Stephane Dion agreed in 2007 to not run a candidate in Central Nova in an ill-fated attempt to help Ms. May defeat Peter MacKay.

There is some general notion that parties might not field a candidate when a by-election occurs to provide an opportunity for the new leader of another party to win a seat, but, at least in recent history, it has been inconsistently applied. The Liberals, for instance, didn’t run candidates against Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest) in 2002 or Joe Clark (Kings-Hants) in 2000 and the Progressive Conservatives didn’t field a candidate against Jean Chretien (Beauséjour) in 1990. But the Liberals did field candidates against Stockwell Day (Okanagan-Coquihalla) in 2000 and Brian Mulroney (Central Nova) in 1983. The NDP fielded candidates in all of those by-elections.

The last time an election result was declared void and a by-election ordered—York North in 1988—the dispute involved a close finish between a Liberal (Maurizio Bevilacqua) and a Progressive Conservative (Michael O’Brien). The NDP fielded a candidate in the by-election and ended up getting ahead of the Progressive Conservatives to finish second.

Astute reader Derek Leebosh notes that in 1942, the Liberals officially stood down in York South when Conservative party leader Arthur Meighen sought a seat, but the CCF candidate (with Liberal assistance) went on to win the by-election. This post from Torontoist explains the situation in lavish detail.

Thomas Mulcair’s historical challenge

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at 2:14 PM - 0 Comments

Whatever the impact of the attack ads run against him, one historical note on the challenge facing Thomas Mulcair. He will be attempting in 2015 to do something that most leaders of the opposition fail to do: lead their parties to a general election victory on their first try.

By my count, between 1921 and 2011, 15 opposition leaders* who had not previously been prime minister led their parties into elections. Ten of those leaders failed to lead their parties to government on that first try: Michael Ignatieff, Stephane Dion, Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day, Preston Manning, Robert Stanfield, Lester B. Pearson, George Drew, John Bracken and Robert Manion. Only two of those ten went on to become prime minister after losing the first time: Messrs Harper and Pearson.

On the other hand, the five who won were Jean Chretien (1993), Brian Mulroney (1984), Joe Clark (1979), John Diefenbaker (1957) and Mackenzie King (1921) and all of those five defeated governments that had been in power for at least two terms.

When Mr. Chretien become prime minister, the Progressive Conservatives had been in power for nine years. When Mr. Mulroney became prime minister, the Liberals had been in power for 20 of the previous 21 years and won six of the previous seven elections. When Mr. Clark became prime minister, the Liberals had been in power for 16 years covering five elections. When Mr. Diefenbaker became prime minister, the Liberals had been in power for 22 years covering five elections. When Mr. King became prime minister, the Conservatives (on their own and then as a coalition) had been in power for 10 years covering two elections.

When Mr. Mulcair faces the Conservatives in 2015, the Conservatives will be at the end of their third mandate and been in power for nine years.

*Preston Manning was not technically the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in 1997. Officially that title belonged to Gilles Duceppe, but the Bloc Quebecois had no chance of forming government and at dissolution the Bloc and Reform Party had the same number of seats.

$25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing goes to Richard Gwyn

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, April 26, 2012 at 2:54 AM - 0 Comments

Columnist Richard Gwyn took home the $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for his book Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times; Volume Two: 1867–1891. The prize was awarded by the Writers’ Trust at the Politics and the Pen gala held in the ballroom of the Fairmont Château Laurier.

Richard Gwyn.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird with his hairdresser Stefania Capovilla.

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You either stand with Vic Toews or…

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 10:20 AM - 0 Comments

Stockwell Day, one of Mr. Toews’ predecessors at Public Safety, explains his position on C-30.

“People have been saying, did I say something different than other ministers have said? I did say that I don’t think police should be given any more powers, that anything they do should have to accompany a judicial warrant,” Day said, referring to comments he made in 2007. ”I think what we need to do is reserve judgment on [bill C-30] … because the government’s made a very clear statement they’re open to revision on it.”

Vic Toews is watching

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 12:15 PM - 0 Comments

The government has tabled its online surveillance legislation, now dubbed the “Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act.”

Holding up his BlackBerry, NDP digital critic Charlie Angus said the bill would undermine the privacy of average Canadians. ”Now, every single Canadian citizen is walking around with an electronic prisoner’s bracelet,” Angus said after the tabling of the bill. ”I say to Vic Toews, ‘Stop hiding behind the boogey man. Stop using the boogey man to attack the basic rights of Canadian citizens.’ Is Vic Toews saying that Stockwell Day supports child pornography? Is Vic Toews saying that every privacy commissioner in this country who has raised concerns about this government’s attempt to erase the basic obligation to get a judicial warrant, is he saying that they’re for child pornography?”

As public safety minister, Mr. Day rejected the notion of giving police the power to obtain online information without a warrant. The privacy commissioner has said the Harper government has not provided sufficient justification for such power. And police forces have so far been unable to explain why they need the power. More from our Jesse Brown here, here, here and here.

Why not trust judges on “house arrest” sentences?

By John Geddes - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 6:25 PM - 29 Comments

Back in the fall of 2007, two very drunk men, who had previously been romantically involved, were arguing outside a Winnipeg bar. One shoved the other, who fell and hit his head on the pavement. Lyle Walker, 35, was reportedly able to stand up, but died a few days later from the injury. When the man who had pushed him went to trial, his lawyer and the Crown prosecutor agreed he shouldn’t go to prison. The judge accepted their joint recommendation, and Jeffrey James Bear, then 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a 15-month conditional sentence.

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Senators’ home cooking and a no-fuss wedding

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, September 12, 2011 at 9:55 AM - 1 Comment

Mitchel Raphael/Maclean's

MP’s big greek wedding

NDP MP Niki Ashton got married to Ryan Barker this month in a quickly organized wedding that took place in Alexandroupoli, Greece, where she has lots of family. “We couldn’t make any life plans until after the May 2 election,” says the MP, and “there is only one season to get married in Greece.” Ashton ordered her dress from the Ann Taylor website. One of her interns, who was also getting married, suggested she check out the site. “I really wanted to keep it simple and I don’t do poofy,” says Ashton. There were no speeches at the wedding. Her Greek family (her mother is Greek) told her that only “boring” politicians speak at their weddings. Ashton’s first language is Greek and she is involved with Canada’s Greek community although, in her Manitoba riding of Churchill, she quips, “there are only 12 of us.”

Ashton is not changing her last name: “I have too many election signs with my name on them to throw them away.” The Greek Orthodox church that married the couple asked them to fill out a form stating what the last names of their children would be. (Having kids is not a matter of choice there, she jokes.) The couple wrote down “Ashton-Barker.” Afterwards, there was a honeymoon in Greece and later Hong Kong, where Ashton had studied 10 years ago at the Li Po Chun United World College. The dates worked out so she could attend her 10-year anniversary.

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Stockwell Day holds up a new sign

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 11:05 AM - 12 Comments

Five and a half months removed from cabinet, Stockwell Day says we must summon the courage to consider two-tier health care.

By stubbornly refusing to allow the development of a modern system that allows those who can willingly afford it to buy services, while still providing properly for the rest of us, we are dooming every provincial budget … if we continue to demonize every MLA or MP who wants to at least look at the options and possibilities then we condemn ourselves to higher costs, higher deficits, higher taxes and lower levels of care. Even the socialized systems of European nations allow for fee for service (translation: two tier) systems.

“Two-tier health care” is a rather fraught phrase that can be interpreted variously, but the idea of “fee for service” health care is seemingly what Mr. Day rejected when confronted with this issue in 2000.

Power to the people

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, August 12, 2011 at 1:50 PM - 2 Comments

In light of events in British Columbia and Wisconsin, Greg Fingas defends direct democracy initiatives.

The leading example is of course California, whose combination of conflicting citizen initiatives and political gridlock has made it virtually impossible to make reasonable budgetary decisions or carry out any long-term planning. And direct democratic processes shouldn’t serve as the only outlet for citizen involvement between elections. Indeed, both of the above examples could have been avoided if the governments involved had consulted with residents to determine whether their policy choices were even faintly defensible.

But there’s always some risk that a government that believes itself to be four years away from any accountability might push far beyond the limits of reasonable political choice. And some mechanism for citizens to take back our representative authority in case of emergency might work wonders to reduce the danger of overreach in the future.

Why Jack Layton needed a human shield

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, July 11, 2011 at 9:50 AM - 0 Comments

Elizabeth May

Politicians with bad hips

At Toronto’s 31st annual Pride Parade it was all about party leaders in rickshaws. Green Leader Elizabeth May rode in one as she has in every parade since having a hip replaced in 2007. This time, NDP Leader Jack Layton, who still walks with a cane after hip surgery, was pulled in one covered in rainbow flags. His team was prepared for all the people who insist on spraying politicians with huge water guns—a nightmare for anyone with a BlackBerry. At one point Layton’s wife, MP Olivia Chow, took a water cannon shot in the back to protect him. Chow then opened a rainbow umbrella to deflect further H20 assaults from Layton’s left flank; a volunteer opened a huge orange umbrella to protect him on the right. May is waiting to have surgery on her other hip and says after that she will be able to walk in the Pride Parade. The Liberal MP presence was diminished this year. Interim leader Bob Rae and Carolyn Bennett were the only two elected Grit MPs. Rob Oliphant, who was defeated in the last election, was also in attendance. Rae’s wife, Arlene Perly Rae, demonstrated powerful arm strength as she tossed bead necklaces into the crowd. One shot accidentally hit a photographer and she quickly went over and apologized.

‘Screw the cottage’

There was much anger and campy commentary over Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s snub of all Pride festivities. (Ford said he always goes to his cottage for Canada Day weekend and would not be attending Pride.) Former Toronto mayors were well represented. David Miller and Barbara Hall marched and Mel Lastman sent a letter that was read at the Metropolitan Community Church service before the parade began. Ford mockers were out in force. One man dressed as Ford held a sign saying “Screw the cottage.” Many wore Ford masks. “More people wore them on their ass than their face, which sums it up,” noted Fab magazine associate editor Drew Rowsome.

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The Commons: Humble brag

By Erica Alini - Friday, June 10, 2011 at 11:14 PM - 18 Comments

Across the street and behind a metal barricade, a young man in a bike helmet, holding a pink sign that read “contempt,” was yelling at Conservative delegates as they filed into the giant glass orb that is the Ottawa convention centre. He yelled about the G8 and the $50 million. He yelled about Bev Oda. He yelled about the defeated candidates now in the Senate. He yelled the word “mockery” more than a few times. Most of the delegates ignored him. Some smiled and laughed and waved.

The man in the bike helmet was eventually joined by about 300 others waving various signs for various reasons. “Beat Back The Tory Attack On Reproductive Justice,” read one. “Whither Joe Clark,” read another. The noisy gathering eventually settled on a simple enough chant: “Hey Har-per! You! Suck!” Later there was something about no one being illegal or some such sentiment. Somewhere in the middle of it all was apparently the rogue Senate page.

Inside the orb, the proceedings were running rather late. Eventually, about a half hour behind schedule, Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney and Senator Pamela Wallin turned up to play host. After throwing to “floor reporters” Mike Duffy and Jacques Demers from interviews with various members of the crowd, Mr. Blaney and Ms. Wallin got around to expounding on how fondly they regarded Stephen Harper. Continue…

Harper's promise: a warrantless online surveillance state

By Jesse Brown - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 7:56 AM - 112 Comments

“We are not in any way shape or form wanting extra powers for police to pursue [information online] without warrants.”

That was Stockwell Day, speaking to me in 2007. He was the Harper government’s public safety minister at the time, and his office came into controversy when consultation documents surfaced suggesting that the Conservatives were drafting a “lawful access” crime bill that would greatly expand the powers of police to obtain personal information about Canadians from their Internet service providers without court oversight.

If such a bill were to become law, cops would no longer need a warrant to trace, say, an Internet comment to a citizen’s name, IP address, email address, home address, and cell phone number. In fact, as long as the police had any one of the above, they could request the rest of the info from ISPs without a judge ever considering the need for such disclosure.

But Minister Day was emphatic—my concerns were misplaced, the controversy unnecessary. He had no intention of proposing any such bill. He claimed that the leaked document was a leftover from the previous Liberal administration. He later told the Ottawa Citizen that though such powers would help the police, they were an affront to “our expectation of rights to privacy.”

And warrantless web tracing?

“That is not the path we’re walking down at all, ” said Day.

Two years later, the Conservatives walked down that path.

After a cabinet shuffle, the public safety minister in June 2009 was Peter Van Loan, and he sang a very different tune to me about the need for expanded police powers.

Van Loan tabled a ‘lawful access’ bill that would give police exactly the powers Stockwell Day told me they wouldn’t need. The new minister saw this as no big deal—Canadians, he told me, had “no reasonable expectation of privacy” when it came to this information. In other words, when you leave a comment on this website under a pseudonym, it is unreasonable for you to expect that the police will not be able to trace it to your name, cell number, home address, email address, and other web activity, by linking it to your I.P. address. Such information, he told me, is just like a listing in the phone book.

Others begged to differ. The Ottawa Citizen called the ‘lawful access’ bill “out of balance,” Colby Cosh called it “a bogus, ill-advised expansion of State power,” and the Montreal Gazette called it “unnecessary” and, more to the point, “bad”.

Last month, Canada’s privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, along with every provincial privacy commissioner in the country, sent Public Safety Canada a letter expressing their concerns about the lawful access bill. Namely, they didn’t see any need for it—ISPs already hand over whatever information police ask for, without a warrant, when the cops claim there is immediate danger or child endangerment. They called the bill “problematic”  and wrote that there was “insufficient justification” for the new powers, suggesting “less intrusive” ways for law enforcement to fight crime.

For years, lawful access has been bouncing around, awaiting debate and modification as yet another cabinet shuffle brought Vic Toews into the public safety minister’s office.  Now the Harper campaign promises us that all their outstanding crime bills will be bundled together and shoved through Parliament within 100 days of a Conservative victory.

It’s a promise to do significant damage to the civil liberties of every Canadian, and one Harper’s opponents would do well to pounce on.

'Freely and unconditionally'

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, March 18, 2011 at 12:47 PM - 7 Comments

Michael Geist notes that the disrepute clause has been used since 2008 and considers the larger culture change at hand.

The government may revise the licence by removing the disrepute term, but I think a larger issue will remain … if licences could talk, this one would say “this is our data and here is how we the government will allow you the public to use it.” But open government means accepting that government data is the public’s data and that the government’s obligation is not to control it, but to make it as freely and unconditionally available to the public as reasonably possible. The right approach in addressing concerns over the new Canada open data portal is not to make a small change in the licence terms by dropping the disrepute provision. It is to drop the current licence altogether, instead adopting a simplified, open licence that tells Canadians it is their data and (subject to reasonable attribution requirements) they are free to access, use, and reuse it without restrictions.

Better government through datasets (III)

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 11:33 PM - 10 Comments

A note from Stockwell Day’s office, received just now in regards to the “disrepute” clause cited here.

It was never our intent to limit freedom of expression, which is a Charter right.  That clause is being removed from the licence.

Better government through datasets (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 3:43 PM - 18 Comments

David Eaves lauds the creation of a new open data portal, but questions the fine print (which includes a clause that users  ”shall not use the data made available through the GC Open Data Portal in any way which, in the opinion of Canada, may bring disrepute to or prejudice the reputation of Canada”).

The license on data.gc.ca is deeply, deeply flawed. Some might go so far as to say that the license does not make it data open at all – a critique that I think is fair. I would say this: presently the open data license on data.gc.ca effectively kills any possible business innovation, and severally limits the use in non-profit realms.

Better government through datasets

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 1:51 PM - 25 Comments

Treasury Board President Stockwell Day has launched the government of Canada’s official open data portal: data.gc.ca.

The Open Data Portal is a one-stop shop for federal Government data, providing data that can be downloaded free of charge. The portal facilitates access to datasets available on websites to citizens, researchers, voluntary organizations and the private sector. Application developers can reuse and mashup the data from the portal for commercial purposes, research, or community services to benefit all Canadians in a variety of ways.

This pilot portal will initially bring together more than 260,000 datasets from the following ten participating departments available to all Canadians: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada; Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Environment Canada; Department of Finance Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Library and Archives Canada; Natural Resources Canada; Statistics Canada; Transport Canada; and the Treasury Board Secretariat.

Stockwell Day, so-con icon, bows out

By John Geddes - Monday, March 14, 2011 at 12:08 PM - 16 Comments

News that he isn’t going to run again in the next federal election has me thinking back on my favourite Stockwell Day stories, one of which features a telling one-liner from Gerry Ritz on the sensitive subject of religion in conservative politics.

It was late in the winter of 2002, and Day was running what turned out to be a losing campaign against Stephen Harper for the leadership of the Canadian Alliance.  In a meeting room above a curling rink in suburban Ottawa, Day had just delivered a bravura performance, energizing his supporters by portraying himself as the victim of both the national media elite’s scorn for social conservatives and the machinations of shadowy “backroom” schemers in his own party.

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Au revoir, Stockwell Day

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 10:47 AM - 269 Comments

The current President of the Treasury Board and the former leader of the Canadian Alliance won’t seek reelection.

After 14 years in provincial government in Alberta and almost 11 in federal politics, Day said it was “time to move on.” “Though there would be exciting and satisfying days ahead in public office, after prayerful consideration, Valorie and I feel at peace with our decision,” Day said in a statement, referring to his wife.

Our John Geddes chronicled Stockwell Day’s rise extensively, including pieces here, here and here.

PM Arthur Meighen finally officially hung

By Mitchel Raphael - Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 8:00 AM - 1 Comment

In an effort to correct a historical oversight, the portrait of the ninth Prime Minister, Arthur Meighen, was officially hung. While the portrait has been up in Centre Block for decades, Meighen never got an official dedication ceremony, an oversight discovered by historian Arthur Milnes, while he was working on a revised book of Meighen speeches, Unrevised and Unrepented II. Below, former PM Joe Clark (left) and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon in front of the portrait.

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

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The overcoat a former PM's wife just couldn't lose

By Mitchel Raphael - Monday, February 28, 2011 at 10:25 AM - 4 Comments

The Senator and the ballet

New Brunswick Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, who served as one of Stephen Harper’s key communications advisers, hosted the Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada at the National Arts Centre. The event was the world premiere of Ghosts of Violence, which tackles the subject of women who have died at the hands of an intimate partner. Stewart Olsen has helped the ballet raise both private and public funding. It was her first experience with arts funding and she said she has found it one of her most rewarding experiences so far as a senator. The new Progressive Conservative premier of New Brunswick, David Alward, attended and confessed it was his first ballet. It was also the first ballet for Jen Heague-Morse of Ottawa, who found it a particularly moving event. When people walked into the theatre they were greeted by life-size wooden cut-outs of women who had been killed. Each had a plaque with information about the victim. One of them was Morse’s mother, Brenda Lee Chillingworth.

Medal count: Rae 2, Iggy 1

At last week’s Politics & the Pen gala, Anna Porter took home the $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for political writing for her book The Ghosts of Europe: Journeys Through Central Europe’s Troubled Past and Uncertain Future. Porter joked that when she saw Laureen Harper wasn’t in attendance she was sure Lawrence Martin must have won for Harperland: The Politics of Control. As is the tradition at the gala, many attendees sported one of two medals indicating whether they were a writer or a politician. Liberal MP Bob Rae, who has penned several books, got to wear both medals. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, who has written a huge number of books, got only the politician medal; Green Leader Elizabeth May was reduced to “writer.”

Another Joe Clark record smashed

In an effort to correct a historical oversight, the portrait of Canada’s ninth prime minister, Arthur Meighen, was officially hung. The portrait has been up in the Centre Block for decades, but Meighen never got an official dedication ceremony, an oversight discovered by historian Arthur Milnes while he was working on a revised book of Meighen speeches, Unrevised and Unrepented II. In attendance was Joe Clark, who served as PM in 1979 and 1980, but didn’t have his portrait hung until 2008. “Another one of my records broken,” Clark joked. Sen. Michael Meighen told a funny story about how his grandfather wore clothing until it fell apart. One overcoat in particular was in such shambles Meighen’s wife tossed it from a train. She was shocked when it was returned in the mail, courtesy of a railway worker who found it and identified the owner from the name stitched in the lining. Earl Porter, the mayor of Portage la Prairie, Man., Meighen’s hometown, was given a special invite to the ceremony. Porter noted that renovations on Meighen’s house, declared a heritage property about a decade ago, are almost complete.

Not impressed with William’s visit

When the PM was asked during question period about the upcoming visit of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, there was much boisterous heckling, as it was clearly an attempt to change the channel on the crisis over Bev Oda and the word “not.” When the PM noted, “I am sure Canadians will be as wildly enthusiastic in their reception of this visit as all members of the House appear to be,” Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe responded with his hands in a frenzy of disgust.

Jack needs to stretch

NDP Leader Jack Layton joins a growing list of MPs with leg and foot injuries—including Stockwell Day and Jean-Pierre Blackburn. What started as a small fracture in his foot from exercising turned into something worse. Layton’s wife, Toronto MP Olivia Chow, says he, like too many men, does not stretch when exercising.

Conservatives celebrate 5 years in power

By Mitchel Raphael - Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 9:05 AM - 12 Comments

Tories turned out at the Hard Rock Cafe for a party in honour of staying in power for five years. (L-R) Val Day, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day, Laureen Harper.

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Labour Minister Lisa Raitt.

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Stephen Harper and Canada, a love story (IV)

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 9:04 AM - 251 Comments

Eleven years before he declared himself and his side to be “Canadians first and only,” Stephen Harper declared his allegiance to an Alberta quite apart from Canada.

The following op-ed was published by the National Post on December 8, 2000, shortly after that year’s federal election. Sorting out how he got from writing what appears here to saying what he says now probably goes as far as any question towards sorting out Stephen Harper. Continue…

First week fashion on the Hill

By Mitchel Raphael - Friday, February 4, 2011 at 2:20 PM - 2 Comments

MPs show off some new looks for the beginning of the new session. Below, Liberal MP Siobhan Coady and her sealskin ear muffs.

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Treasury Board President Stockwell Day in a foot cast.

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