A few years back I wrote a memoir. It was a hell of a story - a gripping tale of how a young man overcame a privileged middle-class upbringing, only … - Rick Mercer

"I once said to her on the phone, "Jann, this group of kids in Newfoundland have won a spot at a rock camp showcase in Madrid. They are fundraising. They need to raise ten thousand more dollars if they are going to make the trip."
Before I could finish talking, she said, "Okay, I'll give them five grand, you do the same, and it's done, easy."
I answered, "I was going to suggest we sign a picture for them for their auction."
Thanks to Jann, they made the trip. She changed the lives of a group of teenage rock and rollers that she didn't know."

It takes hard work and mad skills - the exception being Justin Trudeau, who only had to remain upright. His becoming prime minister was predetermined the moment he was born on Christmas Day 1971.
In many ways Trudeau is like the Harry Potter of Canada's natural governing party. Powerful forces inside the Liberal Laurentian elite, forces we muggles could never understand, used magic and Quebec to give him the keys to the prime minister's office. No amount of blackface or condensation could stop that from happening.

The Hill has always been one of my all-time favourite places. Not because of the people who sit in Parliament. Those I can take or leave. My affinity for the place is all about the bricks and the mortar - not the pricks and the mortals.