Notes From The Hill

It’s sometime just before midnight, two days into the second round. It’s April, but here in Ottawa, it still feels like February. The weather is cold. A puddle of water outside my apartment building turned to ice overnight. A few days ago, it snowed. Politicians are slinking around here and there. Their acolytes and hangers-on turn up in bars and coffee shops, at parties, chatting, spinning, leaking. Most days, the debate in the House of Commons humps the line between inane and insane for the gawking obsessives, the press gallery, who like to watch but can’t touch. The only difference is there’s no hockey. Not anymore.

It’s Wednesday, about a week into Round One.

An opposition staffer is talking to me on the phone. I would have preferred an email. She’s telling me something about strategy and tactics. Keep the pressure on, she’s saying. The party’s going on the offense. It’s a forecheck. Something like that. I hang up. I have nothing to go with. It’s a town where everyone thinks they’re backing the winner. You hear about it a lot. Forget the poll numbers, they say. You know why? Polls are polls. The tautology comes again and again.

There’s a strategy going on behind the scenes, some mind-blowing shit, you’re assured. And there probably is something in the works. But likely it’s cooked up with those same stats, sprinkled with seasoned talking points, and currently warming beneath the humming glow of cheap lighting in a cubicle somewhere in the maze of grim concrete lying at the feet of the Hill. When it comes out, it’ll be just ok.

But just remember: even if you’re losing, you’re probably winning. Losing the women, winning the immigrants. Losing small businesses, winning the manufacturing sector. Losing the argument, winning the debate. Losing the future, winning the past. Losing the game, winning the war.

It’s Monday, April 23.

The Senators are waiting to play the New York Rangers in Game 6. “Mr. Speaker, Zack Smith is living the dream of every kid who put on skates and picked up a hockey stick. The 24-year-old from Maple Creek, Saskatchewan plays centre for the Ottawa Senators,” Conservative MP David Anderson tells the House of Commons a few minutes before question period. “I watched Zack as a young hockey player when he and my son played together and against each other. It is great to see how far he has come,” Anderson says. Go team. A few hours later, the Senators lose Game 6. It’s a bad one. The team falls apart at the halfway point and the Rangers pounce. Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson bangs his stick around in frustration. He’ll probably retire. His last game at home is a loss. They’ll go back to New York for a must-win Game 7. They’ll lose that, too.

It’s Wednesday, a day before that final game, and caucus meeting day on the Hill.

The parties sequester themselves away in committee rooms in Centre Block all morning for planning sessions. Around 11:30, some New Democrats start filtering out. One MP is wearing a Philadelphia Flyers jersey. I ask him about it. Why the Flyers? He’s been a Flyers fan for a while, he says. Then, as if it would add more to the explanation, he says, “Orange Crush,” and points to the shirt. I’m not sure whether I just got a political answer for a sports question, or a sports answer for a political question.

What had I asked, anyway? Maybe neither of us knew, so he hedged his bets. Sports allegiances are the kind of things reporters pounce on in the slow hours. MP declares support for American team? If it’s a question, it can be false.

It’s Friday morning.

The night before, the Sens put up their lackluster effort at Madison Square Garden. They’re out. The heavy rain dampens spirits even further. Elgin Street, what the city dubbed ‘Sens Mile’ a few years back when the team made a sweetheart run to the Cup finals, is quiet. The mayor is hosting a breakfast at City Hall. The guest speaker is Mark Carney, the Bank of Canada governor. I’m sitting in the press gallery, 20 feet away, above the last row of public seats, behind a wall of plexiglass. The reporter next to me points to it. It’s like being at a hockey game, he says. I nod. Jim Watson, the mayor, is talking. He’s recapping some recent civic news. The light rail transit plans are going ahead, he says. Ottawa is headed for the 20th Century. He segues into his introduction for Carney, and reaches down to his right. He pulls up a large, novelty street sign. Sens Mile, it says below a Senators logo. It’s a gift for Carney. They take a picture with it. Everyone applauds.

Later that morning, back on the Hill, question period starts at its early Friday time. Former interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel is up. She has a question about the F-35 fighter jet. “The cabinet was aware of the rising costs of F-35. In fact, the Conservatives approved it, but they went out of their way to hide the truth,” she accuses. “We are talking about significant costs, billions of dollars, hidden from Parliament and Canadians. Where is the accountability?”

The foreign minister, John Baird, is filling in for the prime minister. Earlier, he stood in the House foyer and donned a Rangers jersey as required, thanks to the bet he made and lost to Hillary Clinton. He stands up to answer. “Mr. Speaker,” he starts, “before I answer that question, I know many members of the House will want me to congratulate the Ottawa Senators on a great season this past year.”

He pauses, then continues. “The government has clearly communicated the budget we have set to replace Canada's aging CF-18s, and we will stay within that budget. Our budget covered the acquisition costs for the F-35, however other numbers cited include operating costs.”

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