On Being “Doe-eyed”

So, it’s my birthday. Almost five decades of living and so many lessons learned. The picture to the right was taken on the streets of Calgary, Alberta. I’m standing with my Mom in 1959 – the day Lester Pearson came to stay in our home while visiting with my father. From an early age, I [...]

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Best Wishes

To all those who fight for a Parliament of meaning, efficiency and respect -
Our best wishes for a happy holiday season, a truly joyful Hannakah, and the best of the Christmas spirit.

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Having God but Missing the Star

Occasionally in these pages, I have confessed my own confusion as to why MPs who say they hold similar religious beliefs effectively belittle one another in the name of politics. It’s true that Jesus stated that God and Caesar must exist side-by-side, yet he consistently put the emphasis on actions of love, respect and justice.  [...]

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Plenty Of Room In This Inn

It was Otto von Bismark who declared that “politics is the art of the possible,” and we have just witnessed again another fine example of average citizens doing politics (social, local, federal, and international) in a manner that eclipses much of what we do in Ottawa these days.
You’ve heard the story of  Imagine Adoption a [...]

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An MP’s Bill of Rights

Like Nelson Mandela or Vaclav Havel, Mahatma Gandhi had to deal with the scorn of many who said that he had supposedly “caved” in politics. Those very qualities that fit them for political reform and renewal, even renaissance, were called into question the moment they failed to give everyone what they wanted once they were [...]

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Life Under A Slide

I was so stunned by the Angelo Perichilli piece on how some of us were supposedly plotting against Michael Ignatieff that I failed to look at the bigger picture, to put it all in perspective. That’s what this post is about.
I’ve only been in Ottawa for three years but have overall come to respect the [...]

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Wounded In The House of Friends

I woke up early this morning to a shock. In the news, I read a headline claiming that MPs were planning Michael Ignatieff’s early retirement. And then I read my own name mentioned as one of those who took part in a planned meeting at the Chateau Laurier to discuss how to move the Liberal [...]

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A Hero Falls To Earth

Things seem so bleak in Ottawa these days that at times we’re forced to look far afield for inspiration. Well, we got it yesterday – a gift to Canada from space. No, not some visitor from another solar system or even a meteorite, but a new hero from this country who has just finished accomplishing some remarkable [...]

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Martin’s Likely Right … And I Hate It!

Exacerbated by both the detainee situation and the use of negative flyers branding opposition members as anti-Semites, the word “thug” has entered firmly into the lexicon of Parliament.  It’s almost as if this is the kind of naked contemptuousness that the government feels it was born for and it relishes in the battle.
We’re not used [...]

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The Proof Is In The Persistence

The House of Commons has been raucus, unseemly and somewhat less than productive in these last number of years.  I was elected three years ago today, in a by-election.  I was a food bank director and professional firefighter, but nothing could have prepared me for what was about to follow.  On the day I was [...]

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No Hunger For Solutions

Everything’s growing these days: escalating debt, rising carbon emissions, and a heightened distrust of all things political.  These are becoming the defining issues of the day, and due to their tenacity, they’re likely to become ever more contentious with season of fiscal constraints ready to descend upon us.
Yet there are other things that are growing [...]

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Struggling For The Balance

I haven’t talked to anyone in my three years as a Member of Parliament who feels that we have anything but a challenging life. The hours are grueling at best: endless time in committee, research, meeting with delegations, and policy preparation, not to mention what feels like non-stop travel. Then when you are home in [...]

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Missing The Unknown Soldier

Last week I stood with my wife and children looking down upon the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa.  ”What is this, Dad?” my twelve-year old son from Africa asked. I explained how just a few years ago the body of some forgotten man had been transported to that very spot in memory of [...]

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Floor Crossing

In a recent Policy Options magazine, Robin Sears writes in real terms concerning the partisan nature of politics and how it’s always characterized Canadian political life. People, including me, often hearken back to the Lester Pearson minority governments and how much was achieved through compromise. Sears says it was never quite that simple, but he [...]

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Out Of This World

It was one of those wonderful moments that happen all too rarely in an MP’s life. My kids were doing their homework while we were all seated on the couch and it ended up in a wrestling match. Suddenly my Blackberry rang with a message. I looked at my wife and wondered why it was [...]

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A Recession-proof Thanksgiving

Southern Ontario hasn’t experienced anything like this in decades. Of the province’s 240,000 job losses, that vast majority come from this region. Tens of thousands of individuals and their troubled families move from termination, to Employment Insurance to social assistance – a mass of humanity on the move while yet rooted in their respective communities [...]

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Just Imagine

Months ago, families attempting to adopt children from Ethiopia received the shattering news that the adoption agency they were working through was declaring sudden bankruptcy.  Most of us recall the pain reflected in the faces and comments of the prospective parents and our hearts went out them.  Their hopes were finished.
Except they weren’t.  From the [...]

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Streets of Heaven

“Courage often comes later.” I had uttered these words this past Friday morning at the headquarters of the London Fire Department on what was their annual memorial for those of the service who had died during the vicious attacks of September 11, 2001. Each year I’m asked to address the group, not because I’m an [...]

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At Times, It’s Worth It

During a hectic day of events yesterday, two telephone messages within an hour of each other helped me to understand once again why being a member of Parliament can be a remarkably rewarding experience.
During a large-scale economic forum in London I received a text message that was deeply moving. Maclean’s magazine had posted a picture [...]

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In Memory of the Canadian 1st

It was a moment of surprise emotion. The site of a specially dedicated Canadian cemetery recognizing the ultimate price paid by Canadian soldiers in Sicily gives a meaningful sense of home for any Canadian traveling through this beautiful island. Agira, like so many other Sicilian villages, is situated on the very top of a large [...]

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