Personal

Deadlocked

Mulder

Tuesday April 15th was a memorable day for me. I got the phone call right around 6pm telling me about a hockey game between the Conservative MPs and the Liberal MPs taking place here in my riding to raise money for the Bell Kids Help Phone.

I quickly grabbed my Conservative Party baseball cap and scooted on down for the 8pm start.

Walking into the Bell Sensplex, I had no clue which rink to go to but noting one gentleman wearing a small earpiece, I immediately asked him “So which rink is the big game being held in?” He chuckled and pointed to the main rink to the left. You have to love government security guards!

I made my way into the mostly empty stands and waited for the game to start. About 815pm or so, the players started showing up on the ice for warm up and it was clear that more than just MPs were going to be playing when a young Ben Harper skated out on the ice for the Conservative team.

It was right about then that the Prime Minister made his way behind the bench to coach the Tories.

I spent the evening with a group of Conservatives including my MP, the Honourable Gordon O’Connor and Ottawa South nominee Elie Salibi in cheering on the boys in blue.

Conservative fans clearly outnumbered the Liberal fans, but it was nice to see Martha Hall Findlay show up to cheer her team on. Highlight number one of the evening was watching her belt out one heck of a finger whistle when the Liberals scored. She probably whistles better than anyone I know!

Highlight number two came in the second period when Ben Harper skated up the left wing, crossed the puck off the right wing boards where Gord Brown played decoy leaving the puck for speedster Patrick Brown who slid it down low where Ben Harper deflected the puck into the net on a great give and go tip in.

Highlight number 3 happened between the 2nd and 3rd period when the Prime Minister came around to the stands and had photos taken with pretty much everyone who wanted one. It was a pleasure meeting him again.

After one more full period and a five minute scoreless overtime, the final score was 5-5.

Post game there was a small party upstairs in the restaurant/bar where most of the players and a few spectators enjoyed some socializing. I was lucky enough to have my picture taken with the Honourable Jim Prentice and MP Dean Del Mastro who played one heck of a game between the pipes.

A friend of mine wanted his picture taken with Stephane Dion who showed up after the game. After taking two photos of friends with M. Dion, Martha Hall Findlay jumped up and took my camera so I could get a shot with him. I must note, that I am proud to say I wore my Conservative Party baseball hat in the photo. I thanked her and congratulated her on her recent win in the by-elections.

All in all the evening was a treat because it said to me that despite the battling in Parliament and on the ice, all of those involved got together for a good cause and enjoyed some friendly mingling together afterwards. And although the game ended up deadlocked, the winner was the Bell Kids Help Phone.

The Manning Centre Puts On a Great Show

Mulder

The past three days, I had the honour of attending the Manning Centre for Building Democracy’s Networking 2008 Conference here in Ottawa.

The three days started off with a wonderful reception at the National Arts Centre on Thursday evening at which I got to run into fellow blogger Dr. Roy Eappan and BT co-founder Stephen Taylor in addition to getting to share a few words with our Prime Minister. Throughout the evening I managed to say hello and talk to about a dozen MPs who were all gracious and open to some good political banter.

Friday and Saturday were day long sessions with some fantastic speakers.

The sessions included an introduction to rising Conservative Stars presented by Ralph Klein and Bernard Lord, A strategy session on winning close elections presented by Tony Clement, a panel session on what the Conservative movement should do about healthcare featuring past Ontario premiere Mike Harris, Dr. Brian Day (CMA president) and Joanne Marcotte of the ADQ. (Mike Harris kicked some ass here with his views). Friday ended with a discussion on the subject of Euthanasia presented by Dr. Margaret Somerville.

Saturday was simply a great day . It started with a wonderfully lighthearted view of politics from New Zealand perspective from Richard Prebble. During his question and answer period he had everyone in stitches when asked how New Zealand got rid of the sacred cow of farm subsidies and he replied “The best way to kill a sacred cow is to simply shoot it.” This session was in conjunction with a speech from Aussie strategist and pollster Mark Textor.

The late morning session saw BT co-founder Stephen Taylor talk on blogging and social networking and how useful blogs are becoming. Mr. Taylor managed to boost my ego BIGtime by showing a clip of my Peter Van Loan score on Ken Dryden. It was especially nice to have the crowd laugh in unison at the appearance of the name OfficiallyScrewed.com. (Thanks Stephen!!)

The next to last session was one I had seen much of before at the Leadership Institute sessions but it was full of great ideas on campaigning from some key minds in the conservative movement in Canada. Michael Davis, head of RMG, Richard Ciano of the Conservative Campaign University, Devin Iverson, veteran campaigner and Mark Spiro, principal with Crestview Public Affairs all had great insight which someone like me absorbed like a sponge.

The final session was simply a wonderful speech by past Nova Scotia premiere John Hamm. Mr. Hamm is promoting the 250th anniversary (this year) of democracy in North America. The very first of which was in Nova Scota in 1758. The goal is to engage as many young people to take part in politics and I encourage you to share politics with the youth of today. You can find out more via the website www.democracy250.ca .

The Manning Centre and their co-ordinators did a great job. The event was well scheduled, not rushed, very educational and the food at the Congress Centre was great for a conference. Kudos to everyone involved. I will most certainly be attending future events.

ADDENDUM: I was also lucky enough to get a photo taken of myself with the Prime Minister and autographed copies of Tom Flanagan’s book “Harper’s Team” and Preston Manning’s “Think Big”.

A Little Bird Told Me…

Mulder

Everyone asks me if we are going to have an election. I think it has to do with my interest in politics. And to every person I answer the same way. I tell them to go ask Stephane Dion since it is the Liberals who will decide whether to prop up the Tory government via the old “Sit and Spin”. i.e. they sit on the hands when the bell tolls and they spin the stories to the press hoping to swing the polls….

Well tonight I had the luxury of sitting in some choice seats at the hockey game featuring the Leafs vs. the Senators. (Yeah!! My Leafs kicked butt 5-0). And not two rows back and two or three seats over is sitting Steve MacKinnon, the past president of the Liberal Party and someone who regularly appears on the Mike Duffy Live show doing much of the aforementioned spinning.

So at the first intermission, I turn and yell out “Hey Steve!”

He looks around until he spots who is calling him and I ask “Are we going to an Election soon?”

In a friendly manner, he replies “I don’t think so. What do you think?”

I tell him I don’t think so either and I let him go back to eating his hot dog with his two friends.

So there ya have it. Someone far closer to the fray saying he doesn’t think we will be having a spring election not 24 hours before the budget comes down.

Steve MacKinnon eating a hot dog at a Leavs vs Sens game
(That’s him on the left in the brown leather bomber jacket)

This Week Was Special

Mulder

This week was a blur to me. I had one of the busiest work weeks I can remember in a long time. But this week two things happened that made me feel both proud and very pleased with my life.

1) My son joined me for a busy day visiting customers and talking the tech talk as it was “Bring your grade 9 child to work day” on Wednesday. He was very mature and, although I knew he would rather have been home playing World of Warcraft with his friends, he didn’t seem to show it. Tonight (Thursday) at dinner, I heard him say to my wife “Hey mom, do you know what an ETX-802 does?” It was one of those moments that just made me smile knowing he’ll be fine when he gets older.

Thanks T-Bone.

and

2) My daughter told me this evening that she was chosen to lay the wreath down for her class at the W.O. Mitchell Public School Remembrance Day ceremony they will hold on Friday (due to Remembrance Day falling on a Sunday). As a proud supporter of our military, and a father who has a) spent time walking the War Memorial explaining to my children what it means and what the years represent and b) taken a day to bring this 11 year old down to the new Canadian War Museum, I am very touched that she has been given this honour.

Thanks Cookie.

I have two great kids!!!

🙂

Ottawa Bloggers Meet At Mexi's November 3rd

Mulder

Well, it’s that time again. For those of you out there in the Ottawa area, the next Ottawa blogger get together is happening on Saturday November 3rd, at Mexicali Rosa’s at Dow’s Lake.

The address is 1001 Queen Elizabeth Drive.

The time is 730pm(ish)

Please feel free to share this with any other Ottawa Bloggers you feel might want to join in on the fun, lighthearted evening. (All political party bloggers welcome … Dippers and Libs, we don’t bite!!)

mieximap.jpg

Time To Get Back In The Game

Mulder

I have sat by too long watching as bleeding hearts rip our nation to shreds for the sake of personal gain.

*Axe hit*

I have listened to far too many lefties spread propaganda about issues that favour their own agendas of make work programs

*Axe hit*

I have watched too many City of Ottawa vehicles get first class treatment at the high end carwash in this city on my tax dollar.

*Axe hit*

I have listened to No Balls McShifty attempt to buy my Provincial vote this coming Ontario election with my own money after doing nothing with the extra money he took from me after he got elected last time around.

*Axe hit*

I think I have been officiallyscrewed too many times and I am losing my sense of being a hard working Canadian.

Heeeeeeereeeeeeee’s Mulder……

The Shining

Cookie Earns Silver At Provincials

Mulder

I hope I am not boring too many of those who read this blog for the politics but I have to give some kudos to my daughter Cookie and her best friend Moogles for earning a silver medal today at the Ontario Provincial Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship held here in Ottawa at the gorgeous Ashbury College.

The two were pretty much flawless in their duo ball routine and both me, the better half and Moogles parents are very proud of these two.

Second in the province and first in our hearts.

Way to go you two.

T-Bone Takes A Bronze At Tae E. Lee Taekwondo Cup

Mulder

Stepping away from the political arena for a post and entering the taekwondo sparring circle, I had to congratulate T-Bone on his bronze medal in his weight/belt class in the sparring event at the Tae E. Lee cup which was held at Algonquin College last Sunday.

I am continually amazed at his progress in this sport. He is currently a red belt and testing this Sunday for his black stripe which is one level below black belt. I am sure he will do fine. I am especially looking forward to his board breaking with a spinning side kick which is part of the test.

Way to go T-Bone.

Canadian War Museum Simply Awe Inspiring

Mulder

Being on vacation can be a lot of fun. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, I took the kids skiing Monday and yesterday (Tuesday), I took Cookie, my ten year old daughter, to the new Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. The cost of her company was a sushi lunch and a Beavertail later in the afternoon which I consider a small price to pay to get a chance to show her a part of our history.

This was my first visit to the museum and I was pretty impressed with the layout and displays. Once you go through one of the galleries, you can easy step out to the main lobby or continue on to the next gallery which made the tour flow wonderfully.

The first gallery (Battleground:Wars on Our Soil, earliest times to 1885) covered much of the historic battles between French, English, First Nations, and to me the highlight was the War of 1812. There was also a great hallway walk through showing what it was like to stand on the line separating British and French soldiers lining up in the traditional manner of war. The courage displayed was quite moving.

The second gallery (For Crown and Country) covered the South African wars and World War I (The Great War). The highlights in this section were the Billy Bishop display, but even more so the display on Vimy Ridge and the depiction of the Creeping Barrage, the brainchild of my favourite Canadian Hero, Arthur Currie. Those of you who have read my blog, or watched some of my videos, know that I am as proud now of our victory at Vimy as Canadians of the day were. I enjoyed watching Cookie kneel down to touch what she thought was mud in a section that was made to look like the battlefield and seeing how surprised she was that it was plastic.

The third gallery (Forged in Fire) covered the 1931 to 1945. Most of this exhibit was dedicated to World War II. It was at this point that I started to notice the artillery progression that the museum displayed. The first gallery showed a French mortar, and the second gallery a proper artillery piece with the big wheels (which my daughter asked about) and in the third section you started to see shielded field artillery and howitzers. The highlights of this section was one of Hitler’s cars, and the informative sections on Dieppe and D-Day. The trench walk through was also really interesting (and one of the fun parts for the kids).

The fourth gallery (A Violent Peace) covered 1945 to present. It was at this point that I could see Cookie glazing over so we didn’t get as much time to spend here as I would have liked but I would say the highlights were the advanced weaponry and the Korean war display and the Cold War section.

There is also the massive LeBreton Gallery which was a bit hard to find without looking at the map and it contained dozens and dozens of vehicles, artillery pieces, tanks, and was a real highlight of my trip. Seeing the size differences between a Sherman Tank and a Leopard was something you just couldn’t get a real feel for unless the two were very close to each other as they were in this gallery. I would call this a must see. The kids at the gallery seemed really impressed with this section.

The highlight of the Special Exhibition galleries was the Afghanistan exhibit. Below is a photo of what a roadside bomb can do to a vehicle. Seeing this vehicle really made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was also in this gallery when I was proudest as a father. There were various sections throughout that let you and your children write on stickynotes to leave answers to questions or notes for the troops. Cookie really impressed me with all the notes she wrote. Her message to the press was so touching. I am paraphrasing but the message was “Tell the truth. Tell about all the good things soldiers do.”

Canadian Jeep Bombed

I think that everyone should visit this museum at least once in their lifetime. You may get more out of it with older children, but living in Ottawa, I know I will have the luxury of going back a few times to take a slower time going through the museum, and perhaps spend a bit more time talking to the several veterans roaming the exhibits.

Sometimes Life Just Smiles On You…

Mulder

… and those are the days you feel light in your step and walk around whistling and making everyone at work despise you for being in a good mood.

Sunday I was out all day as my daughter was competing in a local invitational tournament I was emcee-ing. Now for those who remember, Cookie finished 17th of 17 at provincials two years ago. And last year she moved up to 7th out of 13 in her age group.

Well at this local invitational, there were 8 ladies in her age group which is about half the total competition for the provincials in a couple of months. Cookie ended up taking a bronze in her free routine, a 5th place in her ball routine and she nailed her ribbon routine for the gold, taking a silver overall and another silver with her duo partner.

This all bodes well for a great showing at this years provincials.

Then I come home Monday night and hear that Charles Adler is not going to sue me for using his voice in a Smackdown!! (phew!!) In fact, I hear he gave me some compliments on the air which I am ecstatic and very appreciative of. Mr. Adler is a well known and well respected sanity check expert calling people out on all types of issues where a sanity check is needed. I took the liberty of cropping the compliments he gave me and turning them into an MP3 you can listen to below.