A guide to the holidays for the politico on your list.

Good to go.

REVENGE OF THE CHINCHILLA, pg. 5

BEST DRESSED ON THE SOCIAL SCENE, pg. 9

and pAN-CANADA CuLINARy pAIRINGS, pg. 7

THE HOLIDAy EDITION, 2013 | iPolitics.ca

ipolitics.ca 3

WHAT’S ON HARpER’S LIST THIS yEAR? WE TOOk A GuESS, pg. 12

FEATuRED OpINION

LAWRENCE MARTIN: 2013: The year everything changed, pg. 13

pAuL ADAMS: The Pope and Mr. Harper, pg. 14

THE MOST WONDERFuL TIME: Picks from the year’s hottest political reads, pg. 15

Recipes from the Hill’s master chef, pg. 6

2014: The year of election preparation

Editorial

Editor and publisher

James Baxter

Deputy editors

Ian Shelton, Doug Beazley

Reporters

Laura Beaulne-Stuebing,

Sonya Bell, Annie Bergeron-Oliver,

Kelsey Johnson, James Munson,

Olesia Plokhii, BJ Siekierski,

Elizabeth Thompson,

Michelle Zilio

Columnists

Michael Harris, Tasha Kheiriddin,

Lawrence Martin, Paul Adams,

Peter Clark, Peter Burn,

Paul Boothe, Devon Black,

Phil Gibson, Andrew Mitrovica,

Derek Burney, Fen Hampson,

Scott Clark, Peter DeVries and

Elizabeth Gray-Smith

Graphic designer

Jessie Willms

photographers

Cynthia Münster,

Matthew Usherwood

Wire editors

Deane McRobie, Lisa Van Dusen

Alpheus

Danelia Bolivar

Marketing and sales

Deputy publisher

Sally Douglas

COO

John Butterfield

Business development manager

Callie Sanderson

Account managers

Matthew Gumley &

Yamina Tsalamlal

Contact

Office: 613-216-9638

201-17 York Street,

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,

K1N 9J6

Who we are: Independent and

non-partisan, iPolitics delivers up-

to-the-minute news, information

and analysis of Canadian politics

and the business of government.

All illustrations by Sarah Lazarovic (longliveirony.com)

ipolitics

Tree tips from Parliament’s resident expert, Gerald Keddy

“I vowed to redeem my kind”: Charlie the chinchilla plots his takedown of Stanley, pg 5

Party leaders’ election promises to Mr. Claus

Elizabeth May: Santa, the Green Party’s top priority is making sure your Christmas is white!

Stephen Harper: Santa, as a white man of a certain age, you’ll find yourself in good company with the Conservatives!

Tom Mulcair: Santa, the New Democrats will ensure that as a seasonal worker, you’ll get your EI!

Justin Trudeau: Santa, the Liberals will stand up for the middle class — so that one day you can finally retire!

4 The ipolitics holiday print edition

keep your tree alive

Tip #1: Treat Christmas trees like cut flowers“Bring ‘em home, put a fresh cut on the stem and put them in water right away.” Keddy says. The cut for Christmas tree, he explains, should be about an inch above the original stump.

  When  the  tree  first  arrives in your home, it will be very thirsty, Keddy says. Key to its survival is a lot of water over the first 48 hours.  Tip #2: When picking a tree, the needles should snap“The needles are like fresh lettuce, it should snap. You

take a fir needle between your hands, it’ll break,” Keddy explains. “When you pull on a branch, the needle should break rather than pull off.”

Tip #3: Buy a good tree stand and keep it straightEven Keddy has had a Christmas tree teeter over in the living room. “There’s no shame in that. It happens, but the secret really is to have good tree stand and one a good broad base on it that can hold a lot of water.” Tip #4: Decorate the whole tree Keddy suggests trying to decorate all the way around,

even if the tree is going in the corner. Having all the ornaments on one side can put the tree off balance, making it more likely to fall over, he warned. We’re not aiming for a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, here. Tip #5: Balsam firs smell the best.“I wouldn’t have anything in the house except the balsam fir,  because  they  have  the aroma.”

“When you open them up in your house, everyone walks by and says ‘oh my, isn’t that fan-tastic,” he says.

Tips from Parliament’s resident tree expert — and former tree farm owner — Nova Scotia MP Gerald Keddy

THE MACDONALD-LAURIER INSTITUTE IS PLEASED TO PRESENT OUR 4TH ANNUAL SOIRÉE

FEBRUARY 12, 2014 ~ 6 PM ~ RIDEAU CLUB, OTTAWAFEBRUARY 27, 2014 AT 7:00 PMRESOLVED: MUSLIM IMMIGRATION IS NO THREAT TO CANADA OR THE WEST Doug Saunders debates for and Salim Mansur debates against.

MARCH 27, 2014 AT 7:00 PMRESOLVED: FREE SPEECH IN CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES IS AN ENDANGERED SPECIES Barbara Kay debates for and Daniel Drache debates against.

CHRISTM

AS

STOCKING STUFFER

3 Great Events! 1 Great Price!

Purchase tickets for

2 Debates and the 4 th Annual Soirée before

December 20 th for only $60.00.

To purchase tickets visit: macdonaldlaurier.ca/events

A SERIES OF DEBATES EXPLORING SOME OF THE MOST COMPELLING ISSUES TO CANADIANS

S ave The Date�

$20 per ticket / Student and Seniors $15 / Museum Members $15 PRESENTED AT THE Canadian War Museum, Barney Danson � eatre, 1 Vimy Place, OttawaPRESENTED IN ENGLISH WITH SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION

PRESENTED BY THE

To purchase tickets or for more information visit: macdonaldlaurier.ca/events

pHOTOS: MATTHEW uSHERWOOD

ipolitics.ca 5

A Chinchilla’s Christmas carolCharles C. Chinchilla vs. Stanley: round twoDrops falling from the sloping ceiling sent ripples across the water’s surface in the shot glass at Charlie’s side. It was still October yet the rain seeping through  the    roof at 24 Sussex was laced with a November chill. But it wasn’t the weather that had ruffled the chinchilla’s grey fur.

Charlie leaned back on his haunch and surveyed his pil-fered implements: a golf pencil from Camp David worn to a nub; a scrap of wrinkled let-terhead from the prime minis-ter’s office, “good to go” leading from the torn edge; the glass with “l’chaim” arched over John Baird’s smiling face.

“Dear Diary,” Charlie scrawled awkward-ly, clutching the pencil with both front paws. “My attempts to usurp the fair-haired

one’s privilege in this house has yet to bear fruit and time is running short. I cannot

abide a repeat of last December’s

debasement. Chinchilla kind have a l w a y s waged a

losing battle against felines for internet supremacy, but the red cone hat was more dunce cap than Christmas cheer and set our battle back a decade. Mean-while,  Stanley’s star has risen ever higher.”

C h a r l i e thought back at how he’d scowled at the prime minis-ter’s aid as the boy in short pants — seriously! it was De-cember! — clicked a photo and tweeted “Charlie the Chinchilla gets into the Christmas spirit at 24  Sussex.”  Spirit?  That’s  spin they could use in the Senate, he thought.

“I vowed then to redeem my kind. I vowed then that I would not allow such indignation to be repeated. I vowed then that I, Charles C. Chinchilla, would rise above!”

Indeed Charlie had made these vows, though to anybody listening it would have sound-ed more like a muted mouse squeak than the terrifying lion’s roar he imagined. At least cats could hiss, growl, meow and mew. Charlie’s range of expres-sion was limited to angling his

round ears up and down. Not that many took

notice, and even fewer took heed.

Instead, in a house full of animals, Charlie was the only one of his kind, rel-

egated most days to a cage while the cats had the run

of the animal room.

Occasionally one would stray from the pack and

nose about his bars. He had at first tried to be friendly, but smiling wasn’t any more an element of his repertoire than small talk about the weather and soon his seeming

overcast sullenness drove them away.

Likely, they talked about him behind his back,

he thought. What a mean ro-dent, they’d say. What a grouch. A  grouch?  He’d  show  them  a grouch.

And so Charlie had receded from the days and stored his energy for his nightly escapes. When the lights went out, his unusually dextrous paws com-bined to slip the latch of his cage and he withdrew to the attic where no bars confined him and no cat could taunt him.

Now, with a new Christmas season nearing he would show them all. He would do what no cat had ever accomplished. He would star on the Prime Minis-ter’s Christmas card.

“The time for action is now,” he wrote.

Charlie dropped the pencil and leaned over the glass, sip-ping at the water.

“Bleck,” he thought. “Tastes like schnapps!”

The full story will be available Dec. 25 at iPolitics.ca

“I vowed to redeem my

kind. I vowed I would not allow

such indignation to be

repeated.”

6 The ipolitics holiday print edition

Fine picks from parliament’s master chef

TIP:Serve with

a Sauvignon Blanc

TIP: Keep cold until ready to serve

He is Canada’s first certified master chef, has won gold medals in culinary olympic competitions and has cooked for some of the most prominent people in the world.

However, few Canadians get to sample the culinary delights created by Parliament’s Executive Chef Judson Simpson.

In  the  spirit  of  the  season,  Simpson  has  agreed  to  share  a handful of recipes he has created, including his vegan Chocolate Mousse Cake, so that Canadians from coast to coast can celebrate Christmas or ring in the New Year in parliamentary style.

What to serve on Christmas day

INGREDIENTS

Crust:2 cups pecans ¼ cup cocoa powder 30 ml coconut oil 60 ml maple syrup 5 ml vanilla extract 4 g kosher salt 

Mousse: 2 cups avocado, flesh only  80 ml coconut milk  165 ml maple syrup 15 ml cashew butter 5 ml vanilla extract 1 tbsp arrowroot powder 4g kosher salt  220g chocolate chips, semi-sweet

Here’s how:1.  Lightly  oil  an  8” springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2. In a food processor, pulse the pecans until crushed but not too fine. Remove to a bowl and add the cocoa powder (sifted), coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla and salt, mix until well combined. Scoop mixture  onto the prepared pan and press

down  firmly  and  evenly  with an offset spatula. Cover and place in the freezer.

3. In a food processor, puree the avocado with the coconut milk, maple syrup, cashew butter and vanilla to obtain a smooth creamy consistency. In a bowl combine the arrowroot powder and salt, reserve.

4. Melt  the  chocolate  chips  in the microwave until melted and smooth.

5. Add the processed avocado to the dry ingredients (arrowroot

and salt), combine well, add the melted chocolate and completely combine until smooth.

6.  Remove  crust from the freezer and

pour avocado mixture on top and spread until even and smooth, cover and return to the freezer for at least two hours to firm up.

7. To serve, remove the mousse cake from the freezer and allow to stand at room temperature for 5–10 minutes. Remove from the pan, portion into 12 slices.

INGREDIENTS

2.7 kg Atlantic salmon fillets – fresh, boneless, skin off 2 cups maple syrup 3 cloves garlic, minced ¼ cup salt; pepper to taste

Here’s how: 1. Trim the belly off the salmon fillet  and  square  each  end  so that the thickness of the fillet is consistent. Reserve end  pieces for later use.

2. Pour the maple syrup into a shallow pan; add the garlic, salt and pepper.

3. Place the salmon fillets in the pan with the skin side facing up. Cover and marinate for 6 to 12 hours.

4. Carefully remove the salmon fillets  from  the  marinade, wiping off any excess with your hands only.

Portion the salmon and either BBQ, BBQ/smoke or bake until cooked. The remaining marinade can be used as a glaze for other fish for up to one week – keep refrigerated.

INGREDIENTS

16 oz Baby spinach, washed 16 oz shrimp, cooked 1 bunch asparagus, sliced and blanched ½ medium red onion, thinly sliced 8 oz goat cheese, crumbled 4 oz cashews,roasted 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice1 tbsp dijon mustard4 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp chives, chopped 2 tsp kosher saltTo taste, black pepper

Here’s how: 1. Place cashews on a baking sheet and bake in a moderate oven (350F) for 5 to 8 minutes or until the nuts are golden brown.  Remove,  cool  and reserve.

2. In a large bowl, gently toss baby spinach, shrimp, asparagus and onion together.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, Dijon mustard, olive oil, chives, salt and pepper until well combined.

4.  Add  the  dressing  to  the spinach and shrimp and gently toss.  Serve  either  individual 

portions or place in a large serving bowl. Top with the roasted cashews and crumbled goat cheese.

NoTE:  Shrimp  can either be purchased

cooked or you can cook from raw in a court bouillon and cool. You can also use smaller or larger shrimp. Very good served with warmed garlic Naan bread.

Chocolate mousse cake Maple salmon

Spinach and shrimp salad

STRONG. SAFE. SOPHISTICATED.

TODAY’S WOOD CONSTRUCTION

1 9 1 3 - 2 0 1 3

Y E A R S

/FPAC.APFC@FPAC_APFCFor more infovisit fpac.ca

ipolitics.ca 7

Eat, drink, and support Canadian producers. Here is your completely Canadian list of beverage and food pairings to warm the coldest nights of the year. Dig in!

Pie and beer

Maple  Sugar  Pie  from Quebec or a Nanaimo bar from  B.C.  with  a  B.C.  Red Racer India Pale Ale.

Tips: Thank us later. Sweets and ales are magical.

On the other hand, if you don’t feel like pairing this top-notch beer with sugar, opt for some Quebec poutine instead. At least that what NDP MP Jasbir Sandhu would do:

“This hoppy IPA cuts through the richness of the gravy, cheese curds and fries, making it the perfect Cana-dian pairing to enjoy while watching a hockey game,” he said. Fun fact: the beer is made in Sandhu’s B.C. riding of Surrey North.

Snow crab and wine

New Brunswick snow crab and Ontario’s Tawse Estate Chardonnay wine.

Tips: You will know when the crab is done when the shell turns dark red and the meat is opaque through-out. Do not overcook. Add some arugula and spinach salad, with strawberries, to counter the buttery crab.

Who might like it: New Brunswick NDP MP Yvon Godin.

Steak and beer

Alberta  flank  steak marinated in Yukon Gold beer paired with Yukon Gold beer.

Tips: Marinate each steak individually in 2 cans of  beer  for  optimal  flavour, for  at  least  8  hours  before cooking. Cook potatoes and apples together, but separate from the steak, as a side.

Who might like it: Tory MP Ryan Leef, whose territory of Yukon loves their homemade brew.

Go pan-Canadian for your holiday pairings

NyE WILD CARD: Bannock and Truro wine*

Great White of Truro wine  from  Nova  Scotia paired with numerous doses of bannock from the North-west Territories.

Tips: This motor oil of a wine — which is 20 per cent alcohol — will either leave you dead or wishing you were. But before it turns your digestive tract into a shrivelled remnant of its for-mer self, it will take you on a plunge into madness for the ages. Its citrus under-tones will barely register in your memory as it begins to warp your sense of space and time, as well as clothing and decency.

The most powerful base possible is recommended, so go with either poutine or ban-nock. You know what, go with both. Lots of both. Implant a microchip in your wrist in case your loved ones have to go find you in the woods.

And welcome in the new year — and a goodbye to bad old habits like Truro wine — with style.

Who might like it: The leader of every federal party. Each has something they’d rather forget.

*Not for the lightweight or conscientious drinker.

APPETIZERS MAINS

3

4

1 2

DESSERT

Prefer turkey over steak? We’ve got a pair for that.

iPolitics.ca for more culinary fixes.

Herring and vodka

Sourdough  bread  from the Yukon topped with a very thin layer of Quebec maple butter, two PEI her-ring pieces and a teaspoon of black BC caviar paired with an Ontario Pine Needle Vodka shot, to be sipped.

Tips: Add a piece of parsley on top of the herring sandwich.

Who might like it: Tory MP Daryl Kramp, whose riding makes the vodka (66 Gilead Distill-ery in Bloomfield, ON).

8 The ipolitics holiday print edition

The anatomy of the Ottawa cinq-à-septHow to party like a politicanThe cinq-à-sept. The French moniker describes the block of time after work and before dinner when folks head off court, grab a drink or two, mingle, nibble, network and wind down.

While it is challenging to gather hard data on this so-cial phenomenon, anecdotal evidence  confirms  that Ottawa claims its very own cinq-à-sept culture, one that throws lobby-ing into the mix and one that is strictly tailored to the needs of MPs.

There is ample rationale for associations, lobbyists, and GR pros to organize their relation-ship-building soirées according to the established cinq-à-sept formula.

And, plenty of incentives exist  to  lure  members,  Sena-tors, staffers, media and

martini-sipping politicos to at-tend in numbers.

Make no doubt about it. The cinq-à-sept is alive and well in Ottawa. Understanding it takes just a few steps in breaking it down to its basic elements.

Cracking the code

The cinq-à-sept formula is shaped by members’ schedul-ing, occupying the social calen-dar when the House is sitting and falling right off the radar when MPs take their parlia-mentary breaks.

With Mondays and Thurs-days being travel days and lunches taken over by other responsibilities, members only have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings open to let their guard down in Ottawa.

“It is like speed dating for

stakeholders…there is a very small window when you can ac-cess them.”

–Greg MacEachern of Environics

“The point of it is to be a drop in… it is candid, off-the-cuff.”

–Angela Christiano of Sum-ma Strategies

When in Ottawa, many MPs are far from their ridings and far from their families. They don’t want to eat alone. They don’t want to drink alone. Thecinq-à-sept offers them a chance to mingle and to have a cocktail in the company of others.

“They live out of a suit-case…that is the appeal of the cinq-à-sept.”

–Angela Christiano of Sum-ma Strategies

“The tricky part of it all is

that after a long day, people don’t really want to be lobbied. Rather, they simply want to have a drink, grab a bite to eat and talk, absorb some meaningful and relevant information. They also – because they are human – want to have a little fun doing all that.”

–Jacquie Larocque of ENsight

Some  nights  will  witness upwards  of  five  or  six  events, equally competing for MPs’ attention.

The increase from previous years can be blamed on the pro-rogation of Parliament. A com-pressed session equates to less time to engage MPs outside of parliamentary hours. Then you have committee meetings going later and let’s not forget the votes.

Any GR or PR pro who knows how to navigate the invite list

will say that there is no guaran-tee of knowing who will show up at what time but a little strategy can go a long way.

“You have to survey the landscape when you’re planning — you can’t bump up against a marquee event…and you have to make it worth [MPs’] valu-able time to attend.”

–Susan Smith of Bluesky Strategy Group

The lifetime of the cinq-à-sept

The cinq-à-sept is here to stay. How it will evolve will de-pend on changes in political cul-ture and parliamentary reform.

“It will always be important to build relationships in an in-formal setting…there will al-ways be an active circuit.”

–Susan Smith of Bluesky Strategy Group

pH

OT

OS

: Cy

NT

HIA

Mu

NS

TE

R

Peter MacKay with his wife, Nazanin Afshin-Jam

Paul Wells at the launch of The Longer I’m Prime Minister

Julie Pellissier-Lush performing

The crowd at Ottawa social hotspot, Play

Shelly Glover at the launch of Christmas Lights Across Canada

Rick Mercer at Hope LiveJeff Watson with a slider

ipolitics.ca 9

Heralds of Hill fashionIn the House, if a member wants airtime they are expected to show up for QP in appropriate dress. The House of Commons Procedure and Practice actually lays down a loose dress code. It pushes for “contemporary business attire” promoting the jacket and tie and frowning upon turtlenecks and ascots.

But, these rules were drafted in 2000 – over a decade ago – when business casual was just beginning to threaten the traditional work suit and bright argyle socks were overpowering the black knee-high. The protocol has successfully acted as a wrench in the style wheel of the majority, essentially blocking contemporary clothing trends from entering the arena. The fashion landscape on the Hill remains monochromatic – a sea of grey and navy blue still dominates the House.

But, in a handful of seats, style prevails. There is a small but mighty group of fashion-conscience members chipping away at the mould, making their own statement. Celebrating those who flaunt with the rules of convention, here is our Top 10 list of the best dressed MPs, chosen for their extra thought on style each and every day they wake and get dressed to serve those who elected them.

For a commentary on MPs’ fashion choices by our very own style pundits, go to In the City at iPolitics.ca.

Eve Adams Her wardrobe embodies a wide range of en vogue items from a floor-length gold gown to the royal blue blazer. The now-blonde MP continues to change her look, keeping fashion eyes watching her every move.

Candice Bergen

Now sitting behind the PM in QP, Bergen is on the style ball when Harper is in the House and she’s on screen. She  is  a  fashion  mentor  for wrap dresses, perfectly-tailored blazers and chunky jewelry.

Scott Reid Slim  ties,  trim  blazers,  plaid pants, shirts of all colours and shoes with just the right amount of point. All ingredients in a perfect outfit, but probably not purchased at the family store, Giant Tiger.

Leona Aglukkaq

Aglukkaq makes a point of making fur stylish. She is what the  ITK’s  Stephen  Hendrie calls, “loud and proud of seal skin fashion.” She is seen here in seal and fox fur.

Andrew Scheer

Points  go  to  the  Speaker  of the House for pulling off the classic look. In a time when Speakers  abroad  are  hanging up their traditional garb, Andrew Scheer chooses  to don the tricorne hat and perfectly pressed bands.

paul DewarDewar makes the list again this year for his rockstar suits intentionally-tailored to align with today’s call for slim lapels and tapered pants.

Justin Trudeau

The many stylish shades of JT hands us all plenty of fashion fodder. He has few couture critics simply because he pulls it off – the jeans, the opened shirt, the cowboy hat, the tuque, even the leather shoulder bag.

Jim FlahertyHere is a guy who invests in the just the right shoes for his moment in the spotlight. Flaherty also gains notoriety in image-conscious circles for establishing his own style brand – he comfortably owns the green tie trademark.

Vic ToewsWhile he resigned from politics in July, some say to make way for new faces in cabinet, he leaves big shoes to fill with his clean-cut presentation.

Jonathan Genest- Jourdain

A lawyer by trade before entering the political arena, the Deputy Critic for Aboriginal Affairs has his suits custom made at Holt Renfrew… and it shows.

10 The ipolitics holiday print edition

member of parliament for , left his downtown Ottawa apartment just before 9 a.m. on a cold December morning. It had taken

him minutes to choose today’s holiday tie — he’d picked out one given to him by his — with a snowman with a black , and

bedazzled . was known around Parliament Hill for his Christmas spirit. It was infectious, he often told himself. He

always decorated his office door with  . And he often roused the House of Commons with merry member’s statements. That morning,

arrived at his office in Centre Block to a surprise waiting for him. On his desk lay a(n)   basket filled with  , wrapped up with a large

bow. On a card, attached to the gift by ribbon, was a note from Prime Minister of Canada. “Happy holiday greetings,” the card read. “Thank

you again for your help with the Christmas party last week. It was a  event that helped bring our team together. Inside this basket you’ll find 

some and  for you and yours. Merry Christmas.” Smith smiled. Today was looking like it would be a  day. He sat

down in his desk chair, booted up his Apple i    and went to his favourite website: www.awesomechristmasties.com. He needed to find a present for 

Prime Minister , to thank him for his generosity and kindness, maybe one with a nice sparkling red right in the middle.

PERSON

NuMBER NOuN NOuN

NOuN ADJECTIVE

ADJECTIVE NOuN SAME PERSON

ADJECTIVE

ADJECTIVE

ADJECTIVE

ADJECTIVE

NOuN

2ND PERSON NOuN

ADJECTIVE

2ND PERSON

PLuRAL NOuN

SAME PLuRAL NOuN 2ND PLuRAL NOuN

COLOuR

FICTIONAL PLACE

Tie one onIn the Ottawa political bubble, some stories seem more fable than fact. The twists and turns keep the bubble on its toes, and provide fodder for the Sunday shows. Here, we give you a turn to write a too good to be true fiction fit for the holiday season.

SAME PERSON

ipolitics.ca 11

Rob Ford: Recall Ford Nation; cracked Leader.

Time  to  rally  the  fleet of Ford supporters. Reason for recall: their leader is cracked.

BONuS TIP: See if Mulcair

will go splitsies on registration

fes.

BONuS TIP: upgrade to LinkedIn Pro.

Justin Trudeau: Choose paint colours for the baby’s room at 24 Sussex.

Early  election?  The Liberal leader is betting he’ll be the next prime minister, so he better begin preparing a room for the new Trudeau baby (due in May). We hear the animal room could be freeing up.

Paul Calandra: Answer a question. Any question.

The Prime Minister’s parliamentary secretary has faced repeated criticism from opposition parties and pundits for his refusal to provide good-quality answers in question period.

Stephen Harper: Buy bigger bus. Be very, very clear about who was involved in the purchase.

Just in case the Prime Minister has more former confidants  he  beneath the wheels. With Duffy, Wallin, Wright, and Lebreton already down there, it’s getting crowded.

Jason MacDonald: Start reading help wanted ads.

Given the turnover of Harper’s directors of com-munications, it’s about time that MacDonald start the hunt for his next stint.

Charlie the Chinchilla: Seek appointment to Red Chamber.

With more and more vacancies  in  the  Senate, the Harper family rodent has his eyes on a seat in the  Red  Chamber.  After all, he is probably one of Harper’s closest remain-ing confidants.

Nigel Wright: Trademark “good to go.”

In an email to some PMO  officials  on  Feb.  22, Harper’s then-director of communications referenc-ing a deal to have Duffy’s expenses — $32,000 at the time — covered by the Conservative party, said “We are good to go from the PM.” The term has since caught on — note our cover.

Resolutions from the naughty list When the clock ticks down to 2014, what some politicos should be resolving

Andrew Scheer: Find new ways to pronounce ‘order.’

Speaker Scheer needs to come up with some variations on the word ‘order’ to control the rowdy MPs during QP.

Thomas Mulcair: Get ‘testiphony’ added to the dictionary.

Grilling Harper in question period about Irving Gerstein’s involvement  in  the Senate scandal, Mulcair mixed up the words ‘testify’ and ‘testimony,’ coining the word ‘tesimphony.’ The House erupted in laughter.

Brent Rathgeber: Establish and lead a Backbench Spring.

If more Conservative MPs revolt from the backbenches, Rathgeber,  the now-indepedent MP for St. Albert, could  lead his former colleagues in Canada’s very own Backbench Spring.

12 The ipolitics holiday print edition

Dear Santa,

Thank you for last year’s sweater vest (the blue plaid one). It really rounded out the collection. The matching one for  Stanley  was  a  nice  touch, although I think Charlie felt a little left out. Can you send him a blue top hat? Lil’ guy likes to feel fancy.

This year, I’d love for you to work your magic in a different way.  PLEASE  just  make  this Senate  stuff  go  away.  Do  you think you could lend me a couple  of  your  elves?  The  kids in short pants could use the help. Just make sure that help isn’t in the form of a $90,000 cheque…

And hey, I do have others at heart. For instance, if you could slip a new Rob Ford video into the Press Gallery’s stocking, I’m sure I would they would love that.

As for Justin Trudeau, please make sure his missing platform lends itself nicely for the latest and greatest

Conservative attack ads.

By the way, any idea what his secret to a lustrous head of hair is? My stylist and I are starting to work on my 2015 election image, we’re thinking Elvis meets Mr. Dress-up. A little something for everyone, don’t you think? 

As for Mulcair, I suspect his beard holds all his power — can you spot me a trimming accident?  Would  sure  help  out in QP!

Laureen’s asked me to put  in  a  request  for  a  Senate makeover. I think a new paint job is in order. Get rid of the Liberal red and replace it with good ol’ Conservative blue.

If you could cross check current senators and staff with your naughty list and let me know who’s due for the Duffy treatment, that’d be great. Maybe you could even suggest a few replacements?

Finally, if you’re looking for any more gift ideas, A Great

Game is already half off at Amazon — I could send a pallet to the North Pole!

I’m thinking my next book will be titled An Irrelevant Response — Calandra’s ghost writing that one. I just know it’s going to be a Globe and Mail bestseller.

Yours truly,

Stephen J. Harper (a.k.a. Stevie)

P.S.  There’s a new Beatles Greatest Hits album out. Would make a nice stocking stuffer...

P.P.S.  Did you know we’re looking to annex your  home  turf? Tax breaks and labour code loopholes will be commensurate with your generosity.

What’s on Harper’s wish list this yearAn imagined letter to jolly Saint Nick

ipolitics.ca 13

2013: The year everything changedLAWRENCE MARTIN

The year 2013 was the one, you might say, that brought clarity, that crystallized the record. On the plus side, it established the Stephen Harper government as a strong and successful one in conservative policy terms. On the downside it established the government as one of the most politically immoral the country has ever seen.

The year brought forward what will likely be Harper’s most memorable policy achieve-ment — the European free trade pact. It produced, on top of so many other examples of abuse of power, what will likely be his most memorable scan-dal  —  the  Senate  expenses cover-up.

The  year  was  also  signifi-cant in that it restored the nat-ural political order of things. The notion that a paradigm shift took place in the last elec-tion took a drubbing as the NDP fell back into its tradition-al third place lodging and the Liberal party re-established it-self as a top player.

The year provided ample proof that the Trudeau name

can still capture the public im-agination. The Liberals didn’t undergo any dramatic policy changes. They jumped from third place to first  in the polls essentially because of the arriv-al of the untested son of Pierre Trudeau.

The year’s most impres-sive political performer was NDP leader Thomas Mulcair. Because of him, 2013 may go down as the year when ques-tion period became meaning-ful again. His dramatic court-room-style interrogation of the prime minister — featuring short, succinct questions in-stead of long-winded lectures — was highly effective. It was a change long overdue. We can expect to see other leaders pick up on this, producing question periods worth watching.

Though the New Democrats slumped in opinion polls and fared poorly in the recent bye-lections, it is still a party very much in the game. The latest Harris-Decima poll put them at 24 per cent, only two behind the governing Conservatives.

The year has given vent to the “will he or won’t he” ques-tion. Get ready for it. Most

every day from now on you will be hearing speculation in the media on whether Harper will run again or step down.

The assumption was that he was very much likely to run in 2015. But now, with the scandal casting such a pall, it’s become no better than an even-money bet. His director of communica-tions assures us he won’t step down. But not much can be read into that. Even if he was intent on leaving, the PM wouldn’t tip his hand at this point.

But we will probably know for sure in the first half of the new year. If he is departing he will have to announce by June or so that there can be a leader-ship convention in the fall.

If he waits longer, he puts his successor up against the wall. A leadership convention next spring would leave the new leader with no time to get

established before the election campaign.

If he had his druthers, Harper would like to lead the party into another cam-paign. He is probably right in thinking Justin Trudeau is vulnerable.

Trudeau  had  a  strong  first half of 2013 but, in the latter months, slips of the tongue showed him to be an inexperi-enced leader and enthusiasm for him dampened.

But the PM’s hand may be forced by continuing revelations on the Senate scandal and/or in connection with electoral fraud being investigated by Elections Canada.

On  the  Senate  scandal, while there is reason to believe the prime minister didn’t know the details regarding a payment to Senator Mike Duffy to cover 

his expenses, it is far more dif-ficult to believe he didn’t know that  his  office was  involved  in what his director of commu-nications calls a “cover-up”. If the opposition establishes he did know of it, he is a crippled leader.

An exceedingly tough deci-sion awaits Harper. On balance it would appear that his best op-tion would be to pass the torch. He has advanced the Conserva-tive cause in many policy areas.

The European free trade deal gives him a legacy piece. On the political side, having led the movement to merge the par-ty and having given the party three election victories, he has a record that will sit well in the history books.

By staying, he risks getting tarred more and more with the scandal brush — and he risks losing to a name, the Trudeau name, which he has always de-tested politically.

Rationally,  the  arguments stack high for Harper’s leaving. But as history has often dem-onstrated, it is very difficult for those who wield great power to abandon it.

“The year’s most impressive political performer was Mulcair. Because of him, 2013 may go down as the year when QP

became meaningful again.”

“The year has given vent to the ‘will he or won’t he’ question. Most every day from now on you will be hearing speculation on whether Harper will run again.”

14 The ipolitics holiday print edition

PAuL ADAMS

The Christmas season seems like as good a journalistic hook as any to talk about Christianity, politics and the economy.

In Canada — unlike the United States, a more religiose society — our politicians don’t talk much about their faith. JFK, Mario Cuomo, Barack Obama  and  Mitt  Romney  all felt called upon to explain their specific religious convic-tions, and of course no end of mainly Protestant politicians south of the border talk about their faith as effortlessly as they  do  football,  the  flag  and apple pie.

In Canada in modern times, only Preston Manning has ever publicly explained in detail the relationship between his faith and his politics. Stockwell Day was challenged to but never could.

One of the unremarked vir-tues of Paul Wells’ excellent re-cent  book  on  Stephen  Harper is his dissection of the then-opposition leader’s 2003 speech behind closed doors to the shad-owy conservative group Civitas. Speaking of what he called the “Left” (which apparently in-cluded the Chrétien Liberals) he warned of moral “nihilism” and argued that there was more to conservatism than free-mar-ket economics.

“Serious  conservative  par-ties cannot shy away from val-ues questions,” he said. “Social values are increasingly the re-ally big issues.” This was the case, he said, from family life to foreign affairs.

Harper is, we know, an evangelical Protestant Chris-tian, though he has never talked about his faith much in public.

Historically, Protestantism has been closely intertwined with capitalism, in part be-cause they both emerged in their modern form in Europe in overlapping epochs. Max Weber famously argued in The Prot-estant  Ethic  and  the  Spirit  of Capitalism that with its empha-sis on relentless hard work and abstemious living, Protestant-ism naturally produced pools of capital that created the condi-tions for the modern economy. He attributed to Protestantism what he called the “peculiar idea” than men had a moral duty to increase their capital and possessions.

And yet great wealth inevi-tably leads, perhaps with a lag of a generation or two, to lavish consumption. And the “creative destruction” that capitalism cel-ebrates also disrupts and some-times destroys families and other social networks that most Christians believe are helpful if not essential to a well-governed moral  and  spiritual  life.  So there’s an inevitable tension.

Catholicism has a different history with capitalism. It was deeply embedded in two previ-ous political and economic sys-tems  —  Roman  imperialism and medieval feudalism. For that reason alone, the Catholic church was suspicious of capi-talism from the start. Capital-ism threatened to undermine the material and cultural basis of the ancient church.

It wasn’t for nothing that

Protestants once portrayed the Pope as the “purple whore of Rome,” in the silky raiment of a decadent landed class.

It is no coincidence, as the Marxists like to say, that the current Pope is the first ever to name himself after Francis of Assisi, the 12th century men-dicant friar. It isn’t easy dedi-cating yourself to poverty at the Vatican, one of the most sump-tuous palaces on earth.

Over the centuries since capitalism took its grip, the Catholic church has in various places at various times allied it-self with landowners, peasants, workers and yes, sometimes market millionaires. But at least in theory it has tended to cast a jaundiced eye on capital-ism — in the last century or so sometimes lumping it together with Marxism as an example of the materialist philosophy the church rejected.

Pope Francis seems more serious than some of his prede-cessors about this mission and recently released his mildly ti-tled but far-reaching economic tract ‘Joy of the Gospel’, which has been denounced by no less a thought-leader than Rush Lim-baugh as communistic.

“The danger in today’s world,” Francis says at the start of the document, which runs to hundreds of pages, “pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born

of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience.”

The Pope draws attention to the grisly fact that inequal-ity and deprivation literally kill some people, besides bringing much suffering to others. But he also argues that the relent-less quest to satiate consumer appetites dehumanizes those of us who are the supposed win-

ners in the modern economy.

Not surprisingly, this has provoked a furious reaction from market conservatives, many of whom argue that by creating such great wealth, capitalism lifts up the poor just as it does the rich.

More than a few conserva-tives have criticized the Pope for being economically naive. Perhaps that’s a cue for us to ask some embarrassing ques-tions about the moral and spir-itual sophistication of the works of the Chicago School.

The problem with free mar-ket ideas has never been that they don’t describe the economy. It is that they are like oregano in a garden — growing like top-sy, crowding out other ideas and sometimes smothering them.

They invade our moral and political reasoning and replace it with the mechanical logic of homo economicus.

For  Stephen  Harper,  it seems, this invasive force has been too much. Notwithstand-ing his Civitas speech, he has always been wary of the dan-ger the outspoken views of his backbenchers on abortion and same-sex marriage might pose to his party. His values agen-da has shrunk to not much more than a populist horror of crime.

The international trade minister, Ed Fast, recently an-nounced anew approach to for-eign policy under which “all” of Canada’s diplomatic assets will be “harnessed to support the pursuit of commercial suc-cess by Canadian companies”. Though this is surely an over-statement, it does suggest a cast of mind that puts other values such as family, society, develop-ment, peace and human rights in their much-diminished place.

In the recent throne speech, the government’s chosen spin was an emphasis on those vi-tal human issues of cell phone rates and cable unbundling.

Sigh.

So while  the  new Pope  has called on us to reawaken our sense of a larger self, Harper has doubled down on a narrow view of us as consumers and producers, a view he himself once saw as inadequate.

I am not a Christian. Not even a theist.

But in the debate over whether the tonic for our mod-ern ills lies with more or less emphasis on the narrowest eco-nomic facet of our being, I’m with the Pope.

The pope and Mr. Harper

“While the Pope has called us to reawaken our sense of a larger self, Harper has doubled

down on a view of us as consumers.”

ipolitics.ca 15

For every lover of Canada — who already has a canoe Bob Plamondon, The Truth About Trudeau

For the media junkie and insomniac – they’ll get what they crave Don Newman, Welcome To The Broadcast

For the optimist in every family Brad Lavigne, Building the Orange Wave

For the cat person – might keep them away from the cat GIFs Paul Wells, The Longer I’m prime Minister

For the shopaholic or political junkie

Susan Delacourt, Shopping for Votes

under the tree this year

Need help completing your Christmas shopping list? We asked the authors of some of the year’s hottest political books to help us help you get the right book into the hands of your cherished family members. Here’s what they told us.

paring down the best books for the Canadian politics lover on your list

FSNA wishes you a safeand happy holiday season.

HonourYourPromise.ca

Dear Santa,All I want for Christmas is retirement income and health care security for all Canadians.