Bev Oda’s goat, and Dion’s new role in Scotland

The goat Bev Oda left behind

Attendees at World Vision Canada’s reception at the Fairmont Château Laurier included Liberal MP Mark Eyking and his wife, Pam Eyking, who have sponsored an 11-year-old boy named Claude, in Rwanda, through the organization for 10 years. They’ve sent him many things over that time, including a shirt six years ago that he still wears. Another long-wearing item of clothing was the brown Ultrasuede jacket from the ’80s that Mark Eyking wore to the reception. The MP is one of seven brothers and jokes they had one suit they kept passing around. Bev Oda, minister of international co-operation, spoke passionately about World Vision’s work. She recalled a visit to Tanzania where she was given a goat as a thank-you present. She told her staffer to get going on the paperwork needed to get the goat home to Canada—letting the staffer sweat it out for 30 minutes before saying she was kidding. The goat stayed in Tanzania.

Abercrombie and Iran

When Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was in Ottawa, he had meetings with Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. The ministers discussed the hot topic of Iran, while Israeli security personnel asked Hill interns if there was an Abercrombie & Fitch in Ottawa. There is not.

Stéphane Dion: big in Scotland

The British government has recently been looking to Canada’s Clarity Act to prevent Scotland’s separatists from obtaining independence. Liberal MP Stéphane Dion, the father of the act, says he had been consulted on the issue months ago by both sides. Notes Dion: “We are the only country who has a separatist movement who tried to secede based on a confused question.” The former Liberal leader says other countries such as Kosovo and Montenegro have also looked to the Clarity Act.

Elizabeth May goes red

After discovering that Green Leader Elizabeth May was using a teddy bear knapsack, her friend Shelagh M’Gonigle immediately went out and bought her a new red knapsack. “There must have been no green ones left,” says May.

Wear a moustache

November saw many MPS and staff grow moustaches for prostate cancer awareness. NDP MP Don Davies and his assistant Dave Horan-Lunney unknowingly opted for the same style. The MP and aide already look so much alike that former Speaker Peter Milliken once said if the aide was sitting in the MP’s seat he wouldn’t spot the difference.