Parliamentary Press Gallery offers vaudevillian fun

From the political pantomime of the Hill, Canada’s journalists and newsmakers shifted to the vaudevillian fun of the Press Gallery Dinner Nov. 3. The annual event is a much needed opportunity to bring together a lot of people used to showing up to work to bellow at each other, or race each other to headlines, to have a good time and swap stories. La Presse Parliament Hill Bureau Chief Joël-Denis Bellavance and CTV’s Daniele Hamamdjian hosted the festivities. As in past years, the night was formatted as a faux awards show. Dressed in a bowler hat and carrying an umbrella, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair (guest of Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson) kicked off the evening by presenting the Rule Britannia award, designed to poke fun at the government’s re-embracing of the Monarchy. National Defence Minister Peter MacKay, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird were nominated. Mr. Baird won due to his department’s recent decision to replace Canadian art in posts abroad with portraits of the Queen. Accepting his award, Mr. Baird said he was surprised that plans to share space and administrative resources abroad with British diplomatic posts garnered such an outcry, especially considering some of the other ideas on the table. He joked that the Canadians proposed merging the BBC and the CBC, but the British balked when they heard they would have to take CBC host Evan Solomon. Another statue went to the ‘Bad Sport’ award, for Parliamentarians with an athletic streak. Quebec Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau picked up that one for his boxing loss against Liberal MP Justin Trudeau earlier this year. He said that while he wasn’t proud of the loss, he was proud of the money that the spectacle raised for cancer research. For those Parliamentarians with a knack for disappearing when in a tight spot, there was the lowest-profile award. Presented by Postmedia’s Stephen Maher and Ottawa Citizen Glen McGregor, the award went to the ever-mysterious Pierre Poutine, architect of the robocalls scandal. The pair joked that if Mr. Poutine was in the room, he could pick up his award at table 18. It goes without saying that the group of newshounds and newsmakers would incorporate Twitter into the evening. After a photomontage of ministers and MPs sneaking glimpses at this year’s guilty pleasure, 50 Shades of Grey, in various nooks and crannies around Parliament, guests were invited to Tweet who they thought most resembled the book’s main character Christian Grey. Unsurprisingly, it went to he of the chestnut-locks and baby blues, Mr. Trudeau. The Liberal leadership contender wasn’t at the dinner, so Mr. Rae accepted on his behalf. Holding up the handcuffs that were his prize, he kidded that he and Ms. Perly Rae would have to figure out what to do with them later. There was one serious award of the evening. The 15th annual Charles Lynch Award, awarded to those with a career of outstanding political coverage, went to The Globe and Mail’s Daniel Leblanc. Mr. Leblanc, who has been a journalist since 1998, said he was surprised to be receiving the nod, and thanked his colleagues at the paper who had allowed him the time to work on in-depth stories. Former CBC Parliamentary journalist Don Newman said that Mr. Leblanc is “among the handful of reporters on the Hill who still insist on painstaking investigative journalism.” While the PM was on his way to India for his week-long trade mission, a number of Cabinet ministers were present, including Mr. Baird, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan, Industry Minister Christian Paradis, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt, Treasury Board President Tony Clement, and Minister of State for Finance Ted Menzies. Jim Prentice, former Environment minister and current CIBC vice-chairman, was also there. As usual, the event was too packed with Canada’s political boldface and the people who cover them to name everyone. The event exceeded the 330-seat capacity of Centre Block’s Hall of Honour and had to be moved to the Museum of Civilization (or the Museum of Canadian History, depending on which party you ask) at the last minute. Party Central’s date was Auditor General Michael Ferguson, who was attending his very first dinner. Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd was there as was Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page. After-dinner, guests hit the dance floor while those on the sidelines were treated to the sight of a number of senior journalists and Parliamentarians dancing Gagnam-style. The party continued later into the night with the after-party at Métropolitain Brasserie. There those still fit to party took full advantage of the extra hour provided by daylight savings, and kept on dancing well into the night. jbruno@hilltimes.com Twitter: @JessicaHTimes The Hill Times

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Parliamentary Press Gallery offers vaudevillian fun

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