OTTAWA — For a lady who lunches, Laureen Harper was refreshingly funny and down-to-earth while sharing a midday meal with 220 other gals at the National Arts Centre last Monday. She was at Ladies Who Lunch, a hugely popular women’s networking event.

Harper took to the podium to promote one of her top causes: the proper care and treatment of animals. She routinely fosters kittens at 24 Sussex and has three pets, including a chinchilla named Charlie.

“We love our families but they don’t always make us happy,” said Harper, eliciting knowing laughs from the room. “One thing that always makes me happy is my animals.”

Harper plugged National Cupcake Day on Feb. 24 in support of animal shelters. As well, she invited everyone to buy a ticket and come party with her at the humane society’s FurBall at the Ottawa Convention Centre on Saturday, April 5.

Never mind that the gala is during hockey playoff season. “I say, ‘Leave the men at home, leave ’em,’ ” said Harper. “If you wait for your husband to want to go, you’re going to be waiting a looong time.”

The feel-good luncheon featured CTV Ottawa News anchor Carol Anne Meehan and author Kathie Donovan as guest speakers with writer Julie Beun as host. There were free gift samples and door prizes galore. NAC executive chef John Morris served yummy pea soup shooters and gourmet mini grilled-cheese sandwiches at the hors d’oeuvres bar. Selling or promoting their stylish stuff were Shepherd’s, McCaffrey Haute Couture, Stunning!, Jana and Emilia Fashion Design and Avenir Design.

Everyone sang happy birthday to Ginette Bergeron. Event organizer Catherine Landry — who knew Bergeron to be very terminally ill — presented Bergeron with flowers, a special dessert and a most compassionate hug.

Valentine’s diners show Montfort some love

Not only was Montfort Hospital’s Choco Chic charity gala a wonderful way to wine and dine one’s chosen Valentine, it also came with a tax receipt.

A black tie-crowd of 350 was seen arriving to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum on Friday for a romantic evening surrounded by the museum’s collection of historic aircraft. Guests sat down to a four-course chocolate-infused gourmet meal, took in a fashion show by haute couture designer Richard Robinson and were treated to some opera singing by Giorgia Fumanti.

The $250-a-ticket evening, which also celebrated Montfort’s 60th anniversary, was expected to net $125,000 toward the hospital’s purchase of a state-of-the-art cardiac CT scanner. The equipment will allow cardiologists to do non-invasive angiograms, using less radiation.

From the hospital was its president and chief executive, Dr. Bernard Leduc, board of trustees chair Alain-Michel Sékula, chief of cardiology Dr. Chamoun Chamoun and chief of staff, Dr. Guy Moreau. Guests were officially welcomed by Montfort Hospital Foundation president and CEO Christine Sigouin (and unofficially by a friendly stiltwalker named Alain Bard).

Guests included city councillor Stephen Blais, who suffered a near-fatal heart attack 13 months ago, Ottawa Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger and Marc Normand, a partner with the gala’s official sponsor, PWC.

Ron Caza attended. So did another well-known legal eagle, Borden Ladner Gervais regional managing partner Marc Jolicoeur, who, really, has the perfect surname for any gala that has anything to do with making hearts happier.

Soirée celebrates a pair of PMs

Sir John A. Macdonald is not just some guy who appears on the $10 bill, nor is Lester B. Pearson a name randomly bestowed upon the Foreign Affairs headquarters in Ottawa.

The two former prime ministers were recognized for their tremendous contributions to our nation at the 4th annual soirée hosted by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a national public-policy think tank based in Ottawa.

Senior Conservative cabinet minister James Moore and Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister, were invited to speak about their favourite PM at Wednesday’s party at the exclusive Rideau Club.

Moore chose Macdonald, and was so persuasive in his arguments that Cotler called his presentation “outstanding.” Moore described our “first and best” PM as a “great visionary” for his construction of a national railway. As well, Macdonald “understood that great ideas are of no worth unless you put in hard work and are practical and tough and sometimes cunning.”

Heart strings were yanked as Moore described the Father of Confederation as a rock of personal strength. Macdonald’s brother was murdered in childhood. He lost a baby son to sudden infant death syndrome. His first wife was an opium addict. He had a disabled daughter for whom he cared and loved deeply. One of his political allies, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, was assassinated.

When talk turned to Pearson, the room heard that our 14th PM had been a First World War vet and a skilful diplomat who was awarded the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for solving the Suez crisis. Cotler credited Pearson for strengthening national identity, improving social policies, implementing co-operative federalism and “bringing people together for the common good.”

“He was, after all, never at the helm of a majority government,” Cotler noted.

After the speeches, a four-tiered Canada-themed cake was ceremonially cut by honourary chair and retired politician Peter Milliken and institute managing director Brian Lee Crowley.

Little Italy, big cheese

It may be called Little Italy but there was nothing little about a party held Wednesday to showcase fine food shop La Bottega. Take its imported cheese, for example. It was a giant wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano, to be sampled with a variety of toppings. It weighed almost 40 kg (88 lb.).

Up to 200 invited guests attended the gathering held on Preston Street at Domicile Developments’ sales office. La Bottega is opening a second location in Domicile’s new condo building, Nuovo.

Party food included house-made focaccia bread with Tuscany olive oil, freshly shaved prosciutto di Parma, Cerignola olives, cannoli and cantucci, Italian wines and espresso drinks.

Sighted were Domicile senior V-P David Chick, store co-owner Pat Nicastro and such La Bottega customers as Martine Laidin, wife of Italian ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado.

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OTTAWA — If only celebrity guest Derek Hough could’ve busted a move to Ottawa, then maybe he’d have made it to the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation’s VIP reception on time.

The Dancing with the Stars champ got delayed in Chicago and was still stuck in Toronto — one quick plane ride away — as Friday’s party got underway at CTV’s ByWard Market studios. The disappointment was brushed aside with humour by MC Leanne Cusack, who, don’t you know, won her own Dancing with the Stars during a 2012 charity event for Easter Seals. Perhaps the CTV Ottawa personality was hoping to go cheek-to-cheek with Hough that night in her sparkly cocktail dress.

“Do you know how long it took me to glue on these sequins?” joshed Cusack.

Hough was indeed present to host Saturday’s main Bust a Move event, held at the Ottawa Athletic Club on Lancaster Road. Some 250 women turned out in support of the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. The fitness event has raised more than $1 million in the past three years to help people from our community who are living with cancer.

At Friday’s party was honourary chair Laureen Harper in a pretty pink skirt to match the event’s iconic colour for breast health. She addressed the crowd, mingled with guests and helped hand out ORCF recognition awards to Lynda O’Dwyer, the Natural Food Pantry, food specialist Korey Kealey, Melissa Krulick of Ottawa Fred Astaire Dance Studio, Ida Firestone on behalf of the Firestone Restaurant Group and OAC president Ian Shabinsky and his wife, Melissa.

Also on hand was foundation president and chief executive Linda Eagen along with Bust A Move volunteer co-chairs Krista Kealey, V-P of communications and public affairs for the Ottawa International Airport Authority, and Bernice Rachkowski, marketing director for the St. Laurent Centre.

It was also a party for getting pampered and perhaps “pink-a-fyed” with temporary chalk highlights, courtesy of The Loft.

Tant talks fashion trends

Bust a Move drew Lisa Tant, one of Canada’s most experienced fashion journalists, to the nation’s capital for a shopping night benefit that saw her share the latest must-have fashions and trendsetting looks.

The $60-a-ticket night for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation was held Wednesday at the high-end Holt Renfrew store on Sparks Street. It was led by Team BFF (Breast Friends Forever) captain Melissa Shabinsky and teammate Mary Taggart, editor-in-chief of Ottawa At Home magazine.

Holt Renfrew donated 10 per cent of evening sales to the cause. As well, a gift-filled Michael Kors bag was raffled off while a Max Mara bag and Pink Tartan dress were sold to highest bidders.

BFF hoped to reclaim its spot as Bust a Move’s top fundraising team. Threatening to steal those bragging rights were their pals from the Enerjiving team led by Korey Kealey. Happy ending alert: both teams won, in different categories, and their friendship remained intact. They each raised more than $25,000.

In the crowd of 75 was philanthropist Barbara Crook as well as Eli Saikaley and his wife, Laila, of Silver Scissors Salon, Stephanie Appotive of Howard Fine Jewellers with her sister, Lindsay Appotive of True Bijoux, and Bust a Move co-chair Krista Kealey.

Tant, who is the former longtime editor of Flare magazine, is now with Holt Renfrew as vice-president, fashion editor. Her presentation included a show with volunteer models Linda Brownrigg, Alexandra Zanella and Nadine Sabine, all of whom make 40-plus look like 20-something.

Screech-in for Bruce House

Partygoers puckered up and kissed the cod Saturday at a Newfoundland-themed party Bruce House held at the Glebe Community Centre to mark its 25th anniversary.

The “screeching-in” ceremony also saw willing participants recite a saying and down a shot of Newfoundland Screech rum before becoming honourary Newfoundlanders. Hosting the event was former TV personality Kurt Stoodley in hip waders, rubber boots and yellow rain hat. Stoodley, who’s on his way to becoming a real estate agent, hails from the tiny town of Botwood, N.L.

Also from the East Coast is Jill Woodley, fund development and community engagement manager at Bruce House, a community-based organization that provides services and supportive housing to people living with HIV/AIDS. She came up with the idea of throwing a Newfoundland kitchen party.

“The kitchen to me is the heart of the home,” said Woodley. “I come from the Maritimes and I know my best memories are in the kitchen with my mother, with my friends.”

The $70-a-ticket event featured live music, free samples of local beer, wine, screech and food (including cod cakes from Steph the Grilling Gourmet) and a silent auction.

Salute to everyday heroes

If our Canadian Olympians didn’t fill you with enough inspiration, then there was always The Amazing People Gala held Saturday at the Ottawa Convention Centre.

The charity dinner honoured dozens of local people whose personal stories of struggle and triumph have been featured on CTV Ottawa News. The evening, hosted by gala committee chair Eric Collard and CTV’s Kimothy Walker, also raised more than $100,000 for SchoolBox and the Hera Mission.

CTV Ottawa general manager Richard Gray presented the Viewers’ Choice award to Wayne McIntyre, retired director of student services at Algonquin College. His former students successfully launched a social media movement to cast the most votes for McIntyre, who is terminally ill with cancer — a disease he’s been fighting for decades.

Dean and Jeanine Otto accepted their Judges’ Choice award from sponsor Dan Greenberg of Accora Village. Seven years ago, the Ottos’ five-year-old daughter, Madison (Maddy), died of a brain tumour. Her parents have since raised $325,000 through their annual gala for Roger’s House, the local pediatric palliative care facility where Maddy passed away. The award left them overwhelmed, humbled and pleasantly surprised.

“I definitely didn’t think it was going to be us, being in a room with this kind of calibre,” Jeanine told Around Town.

R & B singer-songwriter Jully Black was in town to MC the event, held Monday at the Canadian Museum of History. Producer Martha Adams flew in from L.A. for a post-screening Q&A. It was led by TV journalist Catherine Clark, vice chair of CARE Canada’s I Am Powerful Ottawa Council.

The American documentary is a wake-up call on the importance of female education in developing countries. Organizers felt its showing would be an effective way to deliver CARE’S philosophy that women and girls can help pull themselves out of poverty through empowerment.

“The film really is a wonderfully powerful way to express that in a way that talking heads like me, by just saying it, can’t,” said council chair Janet Yale, formerly an executive with Telus and now head of The Arthritis Society.

The violin ensemble Stellae Boreales played at a VIP reception that included council members Dr. Louise Wylie, management consultant Catherine McLean, lawyer Sheridan Scott and producer Lesley Baird, seen with her longtime friend, Margaret Trudeau.

Tasting to help the poor

On Wednesday, Shepherds of Good Hope (SOGH) herded a flock of foodies to city hall for a culinary event that raised $47,000 for one of the most vulnerable segments of society — the poor and homeless.

About 300 people nibbled the night away at the second annual A Taste for Hope organized by Shepherds’ fundraising foundation, led by Anna Silverman.

Among the chefs to put in their time and talents were John Morris (NAC), Kenton Leier (Westin) and Marc Lépine (Atelier). But it was Danny Mongeon from Hooch Bourbon House on Rideau Street who most understood what it means to be down and out. Years ago, he turned to the Shepherds for help when he found himself living on the streets.

“They did a lot for me when I was young, so now it’s my turn to return the favour,” said Mongeon as he served his popular beet salad to the crowd.

Seen were John Lindsay from sponsor BMO Harris Private Banking, the Shepherds’ new executive director, Deirdre Freiheit, and the head of its board, Adam Smith, who’s also on the foundation board. Shona Fleming and Sandy Foote attended from the Ottawa Dragon Boat Foundation. Its recipient charities this year include SOGH.

Among the auction items were a dinner for 10 at the British high commissioner’s residence and a home-cooked dinner for eight prepared by Mongeon, with CBC’s Alan Neal as party-crashing guest.

You can’t herd cats, but you can herd cat lovers.

The “Just for Cats” Film Festival is coming to Ottawa this summer. The exact date and location isn’t set, says Kim Elmslie of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, but the event will be a fundraiser for the CFHS and the Ottawa Humane Society. (Check here to see all dates across Canada.)

The festival will gather humans to watch popular cat videos from the internet, including such feline stars as Grumpy Cat, Lil Bub and, my favourite, the “existential, angst-filled” Henri, le Chat Noir. 

Henri, Le Chat Noir, is another cat star of the internet.

The Just for Cats film reel was created by the Walker Art Centre in Minneapolis, and has been the centre of fundraisers for cat health and shelter programs across North America. The Toronto date on the cross-Canada tour in April will be hosted by Laureen Harper, wife of the prime minister, who is a strong advocate for stray animals and shelters. If Mrs. Harper attends the Ottawa cat film festival, one must hope she brings her husband along, for nothing says cute and cuddly like Stephen Harper.

There are no shortage of cat videos for programmers to choose from. It’s widely held that cat videos account for almost all internet traffic, except for the small bits taken up by porn and pirated music.

The cat numbers are staggering, and while people may think Grumpy Cat is the star, my lazy research shows that “Surprised Kitty (original)” is the leader, with more than 73 million views. And to think that all the Surprised Kitty does is to react when its belly is tickled. (Why does this remind me of Rob Ford?)

Youtube numbers aside, Grumpy Cat is the current star, with TV appearances from CNN to TMZ.  to commercials, etc. Grumpy Cat’s sole skill is an ability to scowl, which seems a genuine talent when compared to Lil Bub, whose is famous for letting her tongue hang out of her mouth. (Er, Rob Ford, again.) The zenith of cat videos is “Lil Bub Meets Grumpy Cat,” which is like Alien vs. Predator with naps.

There’s no explaining the popularity of cat videos. “It’s not dog videos, it’s not horse videos, it’s cats,” Elmslie says. “I don’t know what it is about them.”

Whatever the roots cat-video popularity, it is a hard-fought right. A recent cartoon in the The New Yorker magazine showed an American GI in the Second World War charging into battle while exhorting his men, “This is for our kids to live in a free world! And for our grandkids to grow up in a world where they can spend hours a day looking at cats on some sort of fantastic information machine!”

Using your own fantastic information machine, you can submit your own cat video (click here) for possible inclusion in the Ottawa festival. Note that the cat in any video must be enjoying itself, so it’ll most likely be waking you up in the middle of the night, knocking things off counters, or tormenting a dog for laughs.

Dear editors: I’ll be busy for the next few weeks, shooting videos of the Big Beat cats, Dief and Baker. Now, where is that tongue stretcher?

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Below, included here for no particular journalistic reason, are the Big Beat cats. Top photo, Dief spying out of an old shirt sleeve, and bottom photo, Baker spying from beneath the bed.

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The year was 1988. A skinny kid named Ronnie White packed his bags and turned his back on Winnipeg for school in the Big Smoke (well, Oakville).

Along the way — somewhere between Portage and Main and Toronto, he cut his hair, got a new wardrobe and changed his name. Ronnie became Ron and a nascent star was born.

That Ron White — the one who counts Laureen Harper (remember the Canada Day shoes for the royal visit?), Holt Renfrew fashion editor Lisa Tant and fashion icon Jeanne Beker among his Close Personal Friends — is now Ron White, 45, Canada’s pre-eminent shoe designer/retailer who has been invited to the Golden Globes, is being carried at Holt Renfrew, Nordstrom and Zappos.com and has shod Kevin Spacey, Céline Dion, Matt Damon, Paula Abdul and Christina Hendricks, among others. Even politicians, not a breed normally associated with style, celebrate him.

At the recent launch of his brand into Holt Renfrew, held for a select crowd of 70 at the Shore Club, he was joined by Conservative ministers Rona Ambrose, Michelle Rempel and Kellie Leitch, along with footwear tastemaker extraordinaire Michael Atmore, the editorial director at Condé Nast’s Footwear News magazine.

“Watching a Canadian like Ron White become successful in the ultra-competitive American fashion industry has been amazing,” notes Harper, who attended his marriage to entrepreneur Brad Wilson at Toronto’s Casa Loma last year. “He is talented and hardworking and I know he has a very bright future.”

It’s hard to imagine a future brighter than the present. With independent mid-range retailers across Canada and the United States in upheaval, particularly for now-shuttered multi-brand outlets that once catered to mall shoppers, Ron White is something of a beacon.

White has wisely diversified through a combination of his own vertical retailing (in which a designer is the producer, marketer and outlet, much like Aldo or Browns), two diffusions lines, an online store and placement in luxury chains such as Holt Renfrew and local retailer, Shepherd’s.

He says he’s thriving in an elite market, in part because of his high-quality standards and because he’s a Canadian label in a country that boasts a stable banking system and, for the moment, at least on paper, a solid middle class.

“The talk that I consistently hear from all levels is that Canada is the leader of the G8 and ‘rah, rah, rah Mr. Harper,’ so we can complain about all sorts, but everyone is jealous. I’m a star because I live in Canada. We’re rocking it out.”

And yet, he adds, while e-commerce sites and U.S. chains such as Nordstrom, Top Shop and Target are increasing their floor space in Canada and claiming to be profitable into the billions, it is on the backs of independent horizontal, multi-brand retailers who have failed.

“We don’t have a billion dollars of new business landing from Mars. They’re taking it from someone else.

“In a nutshell, what’s happening is that more than 1,000 stores in Canada have closed, restructured or refinanced: Jacob, Esprit Canada, Stirling Shoes, Friedman. Le Château’s owner (Herschel Segal) put $10 million of his own money in to keep it afloat.

“There’s this whole list of retailers who’ve gone under. Everyone is watching Sears now.”

And they’re watching Ron White Inc., too.

Yet back when Ron was still Ronnie, such success was still a dream. After landing in Toronto, he attended Sheridan College for fashion business, never really expecting to do well.

“In high school, if I went home with a 60 in anything, I was rock-star dancing in my bedroom. In college, I found my place … I got A+ and my parents thought I was forging it.”

Having started out in his first job — resentfully, he adds — in the shoe department of a Toronto Bretton’s (which started in Ottawa and closed nationally in 1996), he was soon calling the national shoe buyer “every two days asking questions. When Bretton’s was in trouble and having a promotions freeze, I started sniffing round.”

White ended up at an orthopedic shoe store, where he not only doubled his pay but soon learned design from a medical point of view. “In the orthopedic world, shoes feel great, but they’re hideous.

“Fashion people would say, shoes are gorgeous, but are they comfortable? I knew I could blend the two.”

And so was born, out of his basement Toronto apartment, the All Day Shoe, designed to be both gorgeous and comfortable with its ingenious hollowed-out leather sole that is then filled with rubber and backed with foam pads.

Ranging from sensible loafers and boots to sexy-but-elegant heels and men’s shoes, he priced them for the luxury consumer who can pay $200 to $600 for kicks.

Having built his “little three- or five-store chain” into something that was outselling international concerns, he has since brought on Ottawa natives Susan Hudson O’Neill and Ben O’Neill (formerly of Kenneth Cole and Hugo Boss) as president and chief operating officer, respectively.

It’s a winning combination, says Tant, an unabashed shoe lover who keeps six pairs of heels on a shelf behind her desk to change into, depending on the occasion.

“When I look at him, he’s playful and pragmatic, which is very Canadian,” she says.

“You’re on your feet all day, running around and you get the support and comfort you need. You need to invest in your feet rather than destroy them with another pair of cheap shoes.”

And now with his three lines, Ron White, Ron White Signature and WHITE Ron White, he is guaranteed to reach even further than the “Prairie girl who has an audience with the Queen,” he notes.

“When I design with Mrs. H in mind, they are elegant, sophisticated and comfortable.

“Something about her should impress the rest of the world. Besides … and I don’t know if it’s appropriate to say this,” he laughs, “she’s got great legs!”

CANFAR president and CEO Christopher Bunting with federal Minister of Labour Kellie Leitch at an inaugural luncheon in Ottawa for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, held Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at the Rideau Club. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen)

From left, Carrie Cuhaci, Sandra Tisiot and Lisa Jorgensen at an inaugural luncheon held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 27, 2014, for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen)

From left, award-winning cookbook author Margaret Dickenson and guest speaker Maggie Atkinson, with her gifted copy of Margaret’s Table, at an inaugural luncheon for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, held Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at the Rideau Club. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen)

Susannah Dalfen shows of the Jasmine necklace she won at an inaugural luncheon for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, held Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at the Rideau Club. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen)

From left, Valerie Pringle, spokesperson for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, with Candice Bergen, federal Minister of State for Social Development, at an inaugural luncheon for CANFAR, held Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at the Rideau Club. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen)

From left, author and journalist Sarah Jennings in conversation with Tammy Quinn at an inaugural luncheon held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 27, 2014, for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen)

From left, Vera Cody, BMO senior vice president Sandra Henderson and Janice McDonald at an inaugural luncheon for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, held Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at the Rideau Club. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen)

From left, Whitney Fox with Carol Devenny at an inaugural luncheon for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, held Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at the Rideau Club. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen)

From left, Margaret Dickenson with Gill Drake and Shannon Day-Newman at an inaugural luncheon for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, held Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at the Rideau Club. (Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen)

Everything ran like clockwork at an inaugural luncheon that rounded up some of Ottawa’s most well-connected women for a 90-minute get-together that focused on a charitable foundation dedicated to eliminating AIDS through research.

Laureen Harper and cabinet ministers Kellie Leitch and Candice Bergen were among the 120 mostly female attendees of Tuesday’s event at the swanky Rideau Club. It was emceed by well-known TV personality Valerie Pringle, spokesperson for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR). Her husband, Andrew Pringle, is chair of the board.

Pringle proved funny, charming and passionate about CANFAR, the only national organization in Canada dedicated to privately funding HIV and AIDS research. To date, it’s raised more than $18 million.
Much has changed since AIDS was first identified 30 years ago; it’s no longer the death sentence it once was. “Research has made such a massive difference,” said Pringle. “People are talking about a cure, in realistic terms.”

The cause was a personal one for event co-chairs Tara Shields, a vice president with public relations firm Weber Shandwick, and Sheila O’Gorman, president of Triumphant Productions.

Shields had been dear friends with Michael Semeredy, 53, who had been a long-time AIDS activist and CANFAR supporter before he passed away in Toronto in December 2006. “Michael always remained hopeful that a cure would someday be found,” said Shields.

O’Gorman spoke adoringly of her talented brother, Michael O’Gorman, whose life was cut short close to 20 years ago because of AIDS. He performed with the London Festival Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and in Broadway musicals, complimented by TV and film.

“Michael was loving, understanding and always entertaining,” said O’Gorman, “He reached for the stars and he lived life to the fullest.”

Up from Toronto were CANFAR president and CEO Christopher Bunting and AIDS activist and former lawyer Maggie Atkinson.

The room also heard from Leitch, who, as a physician, has been very involved with CANFAR. It’s estimated more than 70,000 Canadians are living with HIV/AIDS. “This is a disease that impacts a wide-range of Canadians,” she said.

The luncheon featured a silent auction as well as the door prize of a Jasmine necklace that went straight from the box to Susannah Dalfen’s neck after she was declared the lucky winner.

The news that everyone has been waiting for is finally here. The date and location for the Just for Cats Film Festival in Ottawa have been announced.

The unique festival, consisting of the most popular cat videos seen on the Internet, will be shown in the Algonquin Collage Commons Theatre on Sunday, June 22, from 2 to 8 p.m. Screenings are at 3 and 7, with a VIP event at 5:30.

The Just for Cats Film Festival has been a hit in other cities. In Toronto earlier this year, the special guest was Laureen Harper, an animal advocate and the wife of our cat-loving prime minister. It’s a fundraiser for the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies.

Watching cat videos has become a delight or scourge of the Internet, depending on your perspective. Videos of feline stars such as Grumpy Cat or Henri, Le Chat Noir get tens of millions of views.

The festival will show some of those videos, mixed with videos submitted by cat lovers in Ottawa. Details on submitting videos and where to get tickets will be available at justforcats.ca by Friday, May 30.

Nina Saab is hoping that Laureen Harper’s star appeal may do wonders for her new business.

While cleaning her closet on Canada Day, she heard the roar of the Snowbirds fly overhead and turned on the television to catch coverage of the noon-hour show on Parliament Hill. What left her even more excited was seeing the prime minister’s wife holding a slim white purse with a single shiny red maple leaf.

“I couldn’t believe it and was in shock. I gave her a gift bag with three of my designs four days before and there she was holding one of my purses.”

Pretty amazing exposure for someone who only recently decided to become a handbag designer. Saab, 54, met Harper for the first time on June 27 during a graduation ceremony for her son.

“My son Jordan goes to school with the Harpers’ son Ben at Lisgar Collegiate. After the graduation, I went up to her and gave her the gift bag. She didn’t open it, but encouraged me to follow my dreams. I told her that I’ve had a lot of rejection from various stores that I’d approached and she said never to give up.”

Ottawa’s Nina Saab was elated when she saw Laureen Harper, the prime minister’s wife, sporting one of her purse designs during Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill.

Saab, who has two children, works alongside her husband in their hair salon called Saab Salon & Spa on Bank Street in Centretown. Wanting to explore her creative side, she started designing purses about four months ago. The one that Harper is shown holding consists of a metal purse frame covered in handmade white beading with a satin interior, metal clasp and a chain that can be worn across the body. It retails at her salon for $150.

“I called Mrs. Harper on Wednesday to thank her and to see if she could help me track down a photo of her with the purse. I thought I’d end up speaking with an assistant, but she came on the phone a couple of minutes later.”

Saab, 54, says Harper was very appreciative and commented on the fact that she received many compliments about the purse, including a favourable remark from the governor general’s wife Sharon Johnston. The purse has room to carry a smartphone, which Harper likely did as she was photographed taking a selfie with her family during the July 1 festivities on the Hill.

“This has given me a whole new lease on my business. I was pretty discouraged but it’s reignited my passion and am now thinking of making scarves and dresses with maple leafs on them,” Saab says.

Ottawa designer Nina Saab purses start at $150. The one on the left was worn by Laureen Harper on Canada Day.

Veterans Affairs Canada and Minister Julian Fantino are to be complimented and thanked sincerely for their offer to fly veterans of D-Day landings and the ensuing battles in Normandy over for the 70th anniversary.

Arrangements were made to have 76 veterans from across Canada fly to Ottawa along with a personal attendant on June 2, and thence collectively to the military airfield and flown directly to Deauville airport in Normandy. The arrangements there were absolutely flawless in arranging hotels, transportation to and from all events. The government of Canada covered the costs including expenses up to $2,000 dollars per veteran and attendant for incidentals such as taxis, hotels and food.

The veterans were attended to by medical staff aboard the aircraft and may I add that we were graced with the presence of Laureen Harper during the flight over along with a box of chocolate chip cookies which she stated were made in her kitchen.

The reception extended to the veterans by the French people was very demonstrative and sincere.

The age of the veterans extended from 89 to 101 which means they were 19 to 31, 70 years ago.

Roly Armitage, Dunrobin

When John Morris, the National Arts Centre’s executive chef, unveiled his menu last week for the NAC Gala to be held Oct. 2, it was uncommonly colourful, sprinkled with flower petals from the roasted cauliflower salad to the chocolate mousse dessert.

And while Laureen Harper sidestepped her cauliflower, she gobbled up the petals strewn across her plate.

We asked Morris about his blooming good idea.

Why: “I wanted to do a roasted cauliflower salad with hazelnuts and I just thought ‘flowers’ — mainly for their lovely colours, though you do get some vitamins, minerals and digestive properties from flowers too. This summer I’ve been cooking a lot with flowers. When I was home at my father’s place, I found some zucchini blossoms in his garden and I stuffed them with a really nice chive-Parmesan risotto, dipped them in tempura batter then fried them. Simple but elegant.”

Who: Dressing up your dinner with pretty petals is a great idea for home cooks, says Morris. “Especially if you’re entertaining, if you want to do something more elegant or romantic. As a chef, I’m trying to scale back the manipulation of food. I want to get the best things and then not get in the way of their natural beauty.”

What: Not all flowers are edible. Stay away from any that could have been sprayed. (Morris gets his from Cookstown Greens, an organic company.) But pansies, carnations, begonias, rose petals, violets, orchids, bachelor’s buttons and nasturtiums are all edible. “Nasturtium leaves are good in a salads, peppery like arugula,” says Morris.

How: “Don’t overdo it,” advises Morris. “Flowers are so delicate, so be careful what you pair them with.”

For years, Susan Enns cheered from the sidelines at the Ottawa-Gatineau CIBC Run for the Cure. In less than 12 months, she has learned firsthand what it means to be both a cancer patient and survivor.

Enns, the longtime volunteer co-director of the run, underwent her first chemo treatment a few days before the 2013 event.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d have the strength. It was emotional and empowering and I carried that feeling with me for a long time afterward. I really recognized the true power of the run on that day.”

Breast cancer is rampant throughout Enns’ family. Her mother is a survivor as are two of her father’s sisters. Six of her cousins have also had breast cancer on her father’s side. Today, she is cancer free after undergoing a gruelling regimen of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, a double mastectomy and is currently taking part in a cancer prevention clinical trial treatment.

“Within my own family, doctors from across the country are trying to figure out this gene mutation. I’m from Winnipeg but a lot of us didn’t grow up in the same city. The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation is funding research to look at genetic links to cancer.”

Enns started voluteering for Run for the Cure as a bike valet in 2009 and has been hooked ever since. The month leading up to the run is a hectic time as she helps co-ordinates a core group of 25 volunteers, as well as hundreds of others who help out on race day. Her job as a business executive, sales coach and co-founder of the company B2B Sales Connections takes a back seat during race time, thanks to an understanding business partner.

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Even though she doesn’t take part in the actual race, Enns estimates she walks more than 5k on race day.

“My purple dream team likely do double that on the day of the event. It is an incredible group of  people who volunteer; every walk of life, religion, business, yet most of us have been touched by breast cancer.”

The Run for the Cure is Canada’s largest single-day event devoted to raising funds for breast cancer research, education and awareness programs. The run takes place in 66 communities and last year’s 130,000 participants helped to raise $27 million for the cause.

Enns says she is honoured to be addressing the crowd at Sunday’s opening ceremonies at Tunney’s Pasture. Family members across the country — in four different time zones — will also participate in this national run on the same day.

“It’s a sea of pink on Oct. 5. We will all be connected by a big pink ribbon across the country.”

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure

When: Sunday, Oct. 5

Registration: 7 a.m.

Opening ceremonies: 8:50 a.m., warm up: 9:15am

5km start: 9:30 a.m.

1km start: 9:45 a.m.

Awards & closing ceremonies: 10:30 a.m.

To volunteer, donate or register, visit www.cibcrunforthecure.com

Thursday was the new Saturday as the 18th annual National Arts Centre Gala shifted to a weeknight this year and brought big names in business, politics and philanthropy together under the same roof to raise funds for Canada’s future performing artists.

This year’s NAC Gala netted $917,000 for the NAC’s National Youth and Education Trust. The amount was announced on stage to a full-capacity audience by Laureen Harper, wife of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the honorary chair of the gala. She was joined by Jayne Watson, CEO of the NAC Foundation.

“But I want to take the opportunity to remind you that this is not just about a dollar figure — although it kind of is,” Harper said, slipping in a touch of humour. “Behind that impressive figure are young Canadians with passion and talent. Boys and girls will now have the opportunity and resources to pursue their dreams.”

In the audience were Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, pre-gala reception hosts U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman and Vicki Heyman, Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair, Conservative cabinet ministers and MPs from all parties, and a large number of corporate sponsors and donors. Back to chair the gala committee was Carol Devenny

The returning presenting sponsor, CIBC, was represented by Victor Dodig, who was recently elevated to president and CEO of the bank. “See what happens when you support the arts?” Watson joked in her remarks.

Also there in a promoted position was Barbara Williams. She’s the new president of Shaw Media, which was the gala’s associate sponsor.

NAC president and CEO Peter Herrndorf and acting board chair Adrian Burns were at the pre-concert reception greeting as many dignitaries as they could while gala-goers flooded into the lobby. The benefit was moved from Saturday to Thursday this year mostly due to artist availability.

The NAC Orchestra’s outgoing music director, Pinchas Zukerman, who’s also a respected violinist, violist and conductor, made a brief appearance on the red carpet with his gorgeous cellist-playing wife, Amanda Forsyth.

The gala concert, Pinchas, Itzhak & Friends, saw Zukerman perform with the legendary Itzhak Perlman and some of the brilliant young musicians he’s mentored over the years. The 2,200-person crowd reacted with thunderous applause and ovation.
For many, the gala concert was a particularly touching one because it marked the beginning of the end of Zukerman’s long career with the NACO. He’s leaving as music director in 2015 and will be succeeded by British conductor Alexander Shelley.

“It’s emotional,” Burns told Around Town. “As much as I’m thrilled we have Alexander Shelley coming, Pinchas is a close friend and someone we really love.”

Added Watson: “We’re going to miss him.”

After the concert, the Southam Hall stage was quickly switched around to allow 650-plus guests to return there to enjoy a gourmet dinner, with a main course of Alberta beef tenderloin, planned by NAC executive chef John Morris.

Former cabinet minister Stockwell Day was back to help as charity auctioneer. Items included State Box seating for four to the upcoming Sarah McLachlan concert, with dinner at the NAC’s Le Café, and a one-week stay at a staffed beachfront villa in Barbados.

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It is just a small silver-coloured metal box of the kind that young soldiers used in the muddy battlefields of France in the Great War to protect their smokes.

But turn it over in your hands and you’ll see the dent, just there along the edge. There is such a story in that dent.

Thomas Williams was a brash 22-year-old when he signed up to fight the Germans in 1915. A minor heart defect kept him out of the infantry, so he signed up with the artillery — the 325th Battery to be precise and went overseas.

By 1916, Thomas was hip-deep in war. In 1917 he fought at Vimy Ridge. He would be wounded three times, but the life-long smoker would outlive almost everyone he fought with.

That’s where that small metal case comes in.

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In 1918, Thomas was in action when a German bullet struck him in the chest. He should have died but his cigarette case saved him.

Williams suffered some broken ribs and he was sent to hospital to recuperate. That’s where he met someone rather important in his life. One of the nurses who cared for him was a young Canadian named Omie Harris. Love is a funny thing, it can happen anywhere, even in a makeshift hospital near the western front. Omie and Thomas married and lived and loved in the Ottawa area, producing a clutch of descendants.

One of them is 17-year-old Tom Meredith, a Grade 12 student in the international baccalaureate program at Colonel By Secondary School on Ogilvie Road and a tenor saxophone player in the school’s excellent senior band. Young Tom is named after his great-grandfather.

Thomas Williams

Thomas Williams carried that cigarette case with him everywhere he went for the rest of his life. “It was a lucky talisman,” young Tom says. Old Tom died of a stroke in 1980; Omie had died of cancer in 1949. “She was the love of his life so he never remarried,” says young Tom.

Thomas is buried in Beechwood cemetery and every Nov. 11, Tom and his father Ian visit his grave and place a poppy there.

The connection to the band is important because the National Arts Centre came calling on Terry Porter, the head of the music department at the school, last spring with an idea.

The NAC wanted to involve an Ottawa student band in a trans-Atlantic broadband performance Oct. 28, with students in London, that will be hosted by Laureen Harper in Ottawa and the famed percussionist Evelyn Glennie in London. They asked Porter if he would be interested and, after some serious thinking, Porter agreed.

The “theme” of the piece of music was to be connected to the First World War and the composer, Abigail Richardson, and the students brainstormed one weekend last spring about the story they would tell.

They were near the end of the session and they were struggling for an idea, Richardson said in an interview, when Tom Meredith put his hand up and told his ancestor’s story.

“It looked like we would be doing something on the Halifax Explosion,” said Richardson. “There are a lot of nice sounds there. But right at the end one student put up his hand and said my great-grandfather was in the war and his name was Tom. He went to fight. He got hit in the chest, but the bullet hit his cigarette case and he lived. And he was nursed back to health by a woman who later became his wife.

“So we were all silent and we knew that was the story we had to tell.”

The result is a seven-minute long composition entitled A Canadian At Vimy Ridge: The Story of Thomas Williams.

The piece starts with a fanfare that represents a call to service. Folk music signals Thomas’s trip to Halifax and then across the Atlantic. Next is a march that commences Thomas’s experience of war.

The sounds of battle then are portrayed by eerie honks and squeaks from the instruments, clapping, feet-stomping and percussion. Finally, after Thomas is wounded and meets Omie, the mood turns romantic and the piece resolves.

“I really relied on them to show me what is great about their instrument,” said Richardson. “I don’t play the saxophone and I don’t know the ins and outs of it. I encouraged them to treat their instrument in a different way. What if we don’t want that pretty sound?”

Tom Meredith holds the cigarette case that saved his great-grandfather’s life.

The music all came together in May and June. And this fall the students have been rehearsing the work.

That was the key for Terry Porter. High School bands are often in a very formative stage at the start of the school year. So, he says, the music needed to be written last spring to compensate for the fall learning curve.

The Colonel By band is an award-winning outfit. They have won at the regional level and at the national level. And Porter’s senior band is his best, most experienced group.

For Porter, the performance on Oct. 28 will show the evolution of Canadian music making from the turn-of-the-20th-century British influences, through the playing of Vaughan Williams’ Folk Song Suite, to a confident Canadian music as represented by Richardson’s piece, written by a Canadian, played by Canadians, about a Canadian story.

“It’s a really cool thing for kids to do,” says Porter. “I like the idea of the symbolism that is involved in the show, starting the program with traditional British music from the period and ending with this new composition by a Canadian composer with young people playing it, while having some input into the development of the piece (and) while showing the development of Canadian musical culture through the past 100 years.”

Of course, he says, it’s a big deal that they get to play for Evelyn Glennie and Laureen Harper.

“It’s very unique, most people don’t get a chance to do this and they are rising to it.”

For the National Arts Centre, A Canadian at Vimy Ridge is one of about 50 educational projects connected to the U.K. tour. That’s about five a day.

“We’ve learned how to be very efficient with our time, says Genevieve Cimon, the NAC’s music education co-ordinator.

Composer Abigail Richardson was at Colonel By Secondary School attending rehearsal of the piece A Canadian at Vimy Ridge.

Projects range from chamber concerts in places such as Stonehenge and activities with children and youth up and down the U.K. Cimon says this tour has about 40 partners in Scotland and England.

What is different from other tours, she says, are novel partnerships that have the young people creating their own music, such as the Thomas Williams story.

In this case the students also learned the history of Canadian music too starting with Sir Ernest MacMillan, the composer and legendary conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. MacMillan was in Germany when war broke out in 1914 and was imprisoned by the Germans.

On Oct. 28 they will be performing to London’s Brent Youth Ensemble who are doing their own musical response to the First World War, Cimon says. In the event  Evelyn Glennie will talk about to ability of art to build community and help us through hard times.

In Scotland, Cimon says the NAC  is co-producing with the Royal Scottish Orchestra a musical Inspire Day with 100 kids from five schools in Glasgow. They will listen to quintets from NACO and the Scottish Phil and then the young people will do then own musical exploration.

And in Bristol, Canadian composer John Estacio is doing workshops with young composers who are developing music out of the memories of Second World War veterans.

What: National Portrait Gallery, new paintings by Lorena Ziraldo

When & where: to Nov. 22 at Wallack Galleries, 203 Bank St.

Lorena Ziraldo got tired of waiting for the federal government to build a national portrait gallery in Ottawa, so she built her own. I confess that I never expected to be in it, but life is full of surprises, and unfortunate juxtapositions.

Ziraldo was making paintings that grouped “prominent people in the news” — now exhibiting at Wallack Galleries in Ottawa — when suddenly she saw the true nature of her task. “I realized I was creating a portrait gallery,” she tells me. “And I decided to really create a portrait gallery. My portrait gallery. An engaging portrait gallery that was interesting, informative and fun.” 

Two F-words come to mind when thinking about a national portrait gallery in Ottawa; one is failed, and neither is fun. Most respectable nations have a portrait gallery — the Americans put one in downtown D.C., the British put theirs one in Central London — but the proposed Portrait Gallery of Canada died several years ago from an acute case of fruitless bureaucracy, and, likely, a do-not-resuscitate order from the Harper government to ensure the plug was firmly pulled.

It would seem that a portrait gallery would be dear to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s heart, to hear former gallery director Lily Koltun describe it. “Portrait galleries,” Koltun said at the opening of Ziraldo’s exhibition, “bolster a positive nationalism, love of country and patriotism, through pride in the road we have travelled together.”

One might expect such talk to set Harper marching up and down the driveway at 24 Sussex Dr., but our portrait gallery remains nothing more than a collection of paintings and photographs and sculptures at Library and Archives Canada, the foster institution to a lot of orphaned art.

“I think a portrait gallery could teach, but also really pull us in,” Ziraldo says. “It could be historical and current,” though, ahem, “it would need to be at arms length of the government, to allow for real thought and criticism.”

So how does one make her own DIY national portrait gallery? “There was no way for me to pull together/create a century worth of work,” she says. “I decided to focus on the Queen — instantly recognizable, historical, yet still in the news.”

The Queen still enjoys great public respect, and the proof is in the putting of red stickers on the walls at Wallack. Several portraits of Elizabeth II were sold on opening night, and for as much as the queenly price of $3,200. The largest portrait (36 by 36 inches, oil on canvas) captures every one of the monarch’s 88 years, and arranges them into a face and expression that is in every way, well, regal.

Queen Elizabeth (36 by 36 inches, oil on canvas) by Lorena Ziraldo in National Portrait Gallery at Wallack Galleries in Ottawa.

I think that the Queen — who has shown a refined taste in art by posing for official portraits by the non-traditional talents of Lucian Freud and Justin Mortimer, for example — would like the portrait, and the others too. Ziraldo has a half-dozen or so goes at the royal subject, in red lipstick, or in pink, or simply as Pretty Elizabeth.

Elsewhere, the portrait gallery is often a rogues gallery.

Ziraldo has made portraits within portraits, so the paintings show scenes from inside a portrait gallery, with lots of familiar faces. She wanted to “juxtapose people that wouldn’t necessarily want to share a dinner table,” so Harper is grouped with fallen senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin and Toronto bête noire Rob Ford. I’m thinking that at 14 by 11 inches, the frame isn’t big enough for all that animus.

Laureen Harper hangs with Marge Simpson (no relation) and Sophia Loren, and then with federal minister John Baird, National Gallery director Marc Mayer and NAC Orchestra musical director Pinchas Zukerman. They hang on a wall that Ziraldo has painted roughly, as if unfinished, like someone lost interest before the project was done.

Overall, Ziraldo’s palette is electric, with lots of excitable greens and reds and blues that give the show a vaguely cartoony air, which is boosted by actual cartoon characters (Peter Griffin, Peter MacKay), and by dogs in RCMP uniforms that stand guard inside the portraits. It’s all as Koltun said a portrait gallery can be, “satirical, ironic and kindly humorous as well as sharply funny.”

I wonder if the flinty columnist Barbara Amiel will laugh at being hung next to Miss Piggy? I wasn’t sure what to think when I discovered my own face hanging with Bart Simpson (no relation), Justin Trudeau and, sigh, Jian Ghomeshi (done before the Q host imploded, Ziraldo notes).

This raises a most unanticipated question: How to review paintings when one is of yourself? That, alas, is a potential conflict of interest they don’t teach you how to handle in art-critic school.

Gary Zed, a philanthropic fixture on the Ottawa society scene, is picking up the baton to lead the organizing committee of the National Arts Centre’s annual signature gala, it was announced at a gathering hosted Wednesday by NAC Foundation CEO Jayne Watson at her Brantwood Park-area home.

“I’m really excited because we want this to be the biggest and best yet,” Zed told Around Town at the reception, attended by NAC Gala honorary chair Laureen Harper, JDS icon Jozef Straus, and his wife, Vera Straus, both music lovers, and the NAC Orchestra’s concertmaster, Yosuke Kawasaki, and his wife, associate concertmaster, Jessica Linnebach.

Attendees also included NAC president and CEO Peter Herrndorf, Michel Liboiron from presenting gala sponsor CIBC, and Global News journalist Tom Clark from major sponsor Shaw. Carol Devenny, of PwC, who chaired the last two galas, was down in T.O. collecting her award from the Women’s Executive Network, having been chosen one of the 100 most powerful women across Canada.

2015 is a big year for the NAC Orchestra, with talented young British conductor Alexander Shelley taking over from the legendary Pinchas Zukerman as music director. “I think there’s a real opportunity to do some different things,” said Zed. “My sense is (Shelley) is going to be entrepreneurial about the NAC and be looking for innovative ways to engage with the community and patrons of the NAC.

“One of the things I’m hoping to do is bring in new people who haven’t really been experiencing the NAC,” added Zed, a senior partner and tax market leader for Canada with EY (Ernst & Young) and a member of the NAC Foundation board.
This year’s 18th annual NAC Gala, held Oct. 2, paid musical tribute to Zukerman. It also netted its second-highest amount of $940,000 (the $917,000 announced by Harper that night on stage excluded the live auction funds raised later at the dinner). The proceeds go to the NAC’s National Youth and Education Trust that supports the development of young Canadian performers (among the artists to previously benefit is Linnebach).

“I just wanted to say, on behalf of Peter Herrndorf and all of us at the National Arts Centre, a really warm thank you to all of you who made the gala so very successful,” said Watson during her brief remarks. “We are very lucky to have and to live in a community where we have such generous supporters and volunteers. We’re really grateful because I know everyone has a lot of options in terms of what they can support, and the fact that you choose to support the National Arts Centre and the arts really is important to us.”

Watson gave a special shout-out to Harper for attending “every darn committee meeting” and for taking her role so seriously.

“You don’t just show up on the red carpet when the photographers are there,” said Watson. “You are behind the scenes prodding us, throwing out suggestions and challenging us, and it’s really fun to work with you.”

carolyn001@sympatico.ca

Everyone was feeling pumped about Corner Gas: The Movie as it enjoyed its Ottawa premiere across the river, at the Canadian Museum of History, on Monday night.

Heritage Minister Shelly Glover has been continuing the popular Movie Night on the Hill tradition started years ago by her predecessor, James Moore, as a way of promoting the Canadian film industry to fellow Parliamentarians.

The evening drew roughly 400 guests, including Laureen Harper (she seldom misses a screening and always comes well-stocked with licorice candy to share with her seatmates).

The new Corner Gas comedy is based on the award-winning TV sitcom that was set in the fictional roadside gas town of Dog River, Sask. In his brief remarks, co-creator, co-writer and star Brent Butt thanked director David Storey and executive producer Virginia Thompson, along with the ensemble cast, most of which was there that night with the presence of Lorne Cardinal, Fred Ewanuick, Eric Peterson and red carpet beauties Gabrielle Miller and Tara Spencer-Nairn.

Butt praised the actors for the movie-making wizardry that saw them “all coming together and spinning their magic and breathing life into these words that were on paper, and just suddenly making it all seem very real, suddenly making it seem like these were real people having real situations in a real environment, and it wasn’t just a bunch of jokes that were on a page anymore.”

The film received a standing ovation from the audience of politicians, members of the film industry and event sponsors. The screening was followed by a reception out in the lobby that worked the themes and sets from the film into the decor by, for example, recreating the small-town feel of the The Ruby diner. Meanwhile, the stars of the film were so friendly and gracious with the public.

Die-hard fans included Regina-native Dr. David Poon, who donned his autographed Corner Gas shirt for the occasion. He got himself invited, with help from his MP, Ralph Goodale, and drove up for the night from Toronto, where he’s finishing his medical training.

“The movie was fantastic, and getting to see everyone in their last hurrah was wonderful,” said Poon, who does stand-up comedy on the side.

Corner Gas ran from 2004 to 2009 and was bigger than the Prairie sky in its popularity. It saw a record-breaking 3 million-plus viewers tune into its series finale. The show may not have beat The Beachcombers in longevity but it was the highest-rated comedy series of English Canada.

Following its limited theatrical release from Dec. 3 to 7, the movie will be making its CTV network premiere on Dec. 17 followed by its debut on The Comedy Network Dec. 22. There’s also a special sneak peek on The Movie Network on Monday, Dec.8.
carolyn001@sympatico.ca

Animal lovers unleashed their support for the Ottawa Humane Society by helping to raise more than $100,000 at the 11th annual FurBall, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday night with special guest Laureen Harper.

The prime minister’s wife was returning honorary chair of the $300-a-ticket, black-tie fundraising ball and its Moroccan-themed evening of belly dancing, exotic cuisine and the always-popular parade of animals from the OHS Brightening Lives program.

Harper has been an enormous booster of Ottawa’s animal shelter. “I’ve always loved animals. My whole life I’ve loved animals,” Harper told Around Town. “Growing up, we always took in animals that nobody else wanted or they threw away.

“Sometimes animals, if given a second chance in life, make the best pets. They’ll just fill your life with wonderful moments.”

Each year, the OHS rescues and cares for more than 10,000 animals. The Harpers currently have three adopted pets from the shelter: a tortoiseshell cat named Gypsy, a grey tabby called Stanley and Charlie the chinchilla.

On hand for the gala were OHS executive director Bruce Roney and board chair Chris Tacit. Loyal attendees included Conservative Senator Marjory LeBreton and her sister, Kay Stanley, Ottawa radio host and animal photographer Sandy Sharkey, and CTV’s Leanne Cusack.

Also spotted were federal cabinet minister Kellie Leitch, getting her hand painted with henna, Invest Ottawa president and CEO Bruce Lazenby, Jeff Mierins, owner of sponsor Star Motors, and a conspicuous Chris Jones. His Moroccan hat just “fez” it all.

Italian Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado once again donated to the auction a dinner for 20 at his official residence. Also up for grabs was a seven-night stay at a luxury villa in Bahamas owned by Peter Nicholson of WCPD Foundation.

Ottawa firefighters and police officers sold raffle tickets for the chance to win a $5,000 diamond bracelet from Rings Etc. Teena Stoddart, a sergeant with Ottawa Police and the proud owner of a rescued dog, happily modelled the bling all night.

carolyn001@sympatico.ca

From left, Martine Laidin and her husband, Italian Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado, with Laureen Harper, honorary chair of the FurBall fundraiser for the Ottawa Humane Society, held Saturday, April 11, 2015.

From left, Lisa Webster does a tarot card reading with Glenys Sundaresan and Leslie Buchanan-Jones at the Moroccan-themed FurBall for the Ottawa Humane Society, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Jeff Mierins, owner of sponsor Star Motors of Ottawa, with his partner Tara-Leigh Cancino Brouillette at this year’s FurBall for the Ottawa Humane Society, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Bruce Lazenby, president and CEO of Invest Ottawa, and his wife, Diane, attended the Ottawa Humane Society FurBall held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Ottawa Humane Society volunteer Chris Jones and his wife, Celeste Irvine-Jones, fit right into this year’s Moroccan-themed FurBall held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

This year’s Moroccan-themed FurBall for the Ottawa Humane Society, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2014, started with an exotic belly-dancing performance before dinner.

This year’s Moroccan-themed FurBall for the Ottawa Humane Society, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2014, started with an exotic belly-dancing performance before dinner.

From left, Heather Badenoch and Coralie Lalonde, board chair of the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, got their designer dresses from Rent Frock Repeat for the Ottawa Humane Society’s 2015 FurBall, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Ottawa firefighters Devin Sheen and January Teichert filled their rubber boots with money in the process of selling raffle tickets at the Ottawa Humane Society FurBall, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

This year’s Moroccan-themed FurBall for the Ottawa Humane Society, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2014, started with an exotic belly-dancing performance before dinner.

This year’s Moroccan-themed FurBall for the Ottawa Humane Society, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2014, featured an exotic belly-dancing performance before dinner.

Bruce Roney, executive director of the Ottawa Humane Society, with Ottawa Police Sgt. Teena Stoddart at the black-tie FurBall fundraising dinner, held Saturday, April 11, 2015, at the Shaw Centre.

From left, Chris Tacit, board chair of the Ottawa Humane Society, with honorary gala chair Laureen Harper and OHS executive director Bruce Roney at the 2015 FurBall held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Status of Women, was one of many women to get their hand painted with henna by Sameena Khan of The Henna Lady at the Moroccan-themed Ottawa Humane Society FurBall, held Saturday, April 11, 2015, at the Shaw Centre.

From left, Kay Stanley with Jenna LeBreton-Holmes and her grandmother (and Stanley’s sister), Senator Marjory LeBreton, at the 2015 FurBall held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Ottawa Humane Society board member Alanna Lawson, with Dan Madularu, was stunning in her formal gown at the 2015 FurBall gala dinner for the OHS, held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

From left, animal lovers Sandy Sharkey and Leanne Cusack were out to support the Ottawa Humane Society (and clearly the Ottawa Senators) at the FurBall held at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Conservative MPs are more likely to personally benefit from the income-splitting measures proposed in the budget than are MPs from other parties, a Citizen analysis suggests.

The provision, long promised by the Tories, will allow taxpayers with higher earnings to reduce their tax burden by sharing income with spouses whose incomes fall into lower tax brackets.

Of married Conservative MPs, 37 per cent reported that their spouses earned no income in the previous 12 months, guaranteeing them the maximum savings under the tax plan if they have children, the Citizen’s review of MP conflict-of-interest declarations found.

Because MPs earn $167,400 annually, these couples with “stay at home” spouses could qualify for a tax savings of $2,000 under the income-splitting provisions announced in the budget tabled by Finance Minister Joe Oliver in late April, should they have a child under the age of 18.

By contrast, about 22 per of married Liberal MPs reported their spouses had no income. About 25 per cent of NDP MPs whose marital status is publicly known had spouses without income.

Expressed another way, just over half of Conservative MPs’ spouses realized income over the $1,000 reporting threshold required under the Conflict of Interest Code for MPs. But more than seven in 10 Liberal MP spouses took home salaries, and six in 10 NDP MPs’ spouses reported income.

In short, Liberal and New Democrat MPs are more likely to be coupled with another working spouse than are Conservatives, a reflection, perhaps of the disparate demographics of the parties.

(The marital status of a high number of NDP MPs, particularly the younger MPs first elected in Quebec in 2011, is unclear as few report they are single on their official biographies. Single people do not benefit from income splitting. MPs whose marital status was uncertain were not included in this calculation.)

While many MPs have spouses who earn income, the conflict-of-interest reporting requirements do not require them to list how much they earn. Many of these couples might still benefit from income splitting because of the comparatively high salaries of their MP husbands, wives or common-law partners.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has repeatedly criticized the income-splitting plan by saying families like his and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s don’t need the tax break.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau also qualifies for the maximum $2,000 tax credit. His wife, former television broadcaster Sophie Grégoire, does not bring home any income.

Indeed, both Trudeau and Harper would qualify for the maximum $2,000 tax credit as they both have children under the age of 18 and both have spouses who earn no income.

Trudeau’s wife, former television broadcaster Sophie Grégoire, does not bring home any income, according to her husband’s last declaration filed with the federal ethics commissioner.

Similarly, the prime minister’s wife, Laureen Harper, who has worked as a graphic designer in the past, does not earn income, either, according to his MP declaration. Her husband will be able to transfer $50,000 of his $334,800 annual take-home to her, so can be taxed at a lower rate.

Among his wife’s assets, Harper once listed in his ethics disclosure a Raymond James stock portfolio of undisclosed size and contents , but removed it from the listing several years ago, without explanation. It is unclear what became of the money accrued from its liquidation.

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair won’t get any benefit from the new income-splitting provision. His wife, Catherine Pinhas, earns income as a psychologist from private practice and from the public health system, according to his declaration. But as the Mulcairs are empty-nesters – both their sons are over the age of 18 – they wouldn’t qualify for the income-splitting benefit anyway.

While it is unlikely Conservative MPs who support income-splitting are acting in their own self-interest, the data show that they are as a group more representative of the demographic groups most likely to benefit from the tax cut: families with children where one spouse earns a high salary and the other stays home.

In the Tory caucus, there are more MPs such as Alberta MP Blaine Calkins, who is married to a stay-home wife and has three kids, than those such as MP Rob Anders, who is unmarried and would not qualify to claim the benefit.

It is possible, however, that opposition MPs stand to benefit more from the expanded Universal Child Care Benefit that will pay $160 monthly for children under the age of six and $60 monthly for those between six and 17.

New Democrat and Liberal MPs are younger on average than Conservative MPs and, therefore, are more likely to have children who would qualify for the benefits in years to come.

Toronto MP Chrystia Freeland, for example, is among a small group of women with school-age children. Her husband is employed as a reporter with the New York Times and also earns income from properties he owns in London, United Kingdom.

Despite their high income, Freeland’s family would collect $280 a month in child care benefits for their three children.

Similarly, Quebec New Democrat Rosane Doré Lefebvre, believed to be the first MP to breastfeed in the House of Commons chamber, can top up her $167,00 salary with monthly benefits of $160 for her toddler.

Trudeau and his wife will qualify for $280 in monthly child benefits for their three children, while Harper would collect $60 monthly until his daughter turns 18 in 2017.  His son, now at university, is too old to qualify.

gmcgregor@ottawacitizen.com

Twitter.com/glen_mgregor

High up in the Rideau Club that overlooks our fair city, a 17-year-old teen born with HIV captured the undivided attention of her well-heeled and well-connected audience through her remarkable story of turning a curse into a blessing.

Ashley Murphy, along with her adopted saintly mom, Kari Murphy, spoke at the exclusive social club on Tuesday to 120 supporters of CANFAR (Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research). Attendees of the second annual luncheon included Laureen Harper, Health Minister Rona Ambrose and CANFAR national spokesperson and well-known broadcaster Valerie Pringle as emcee. Her husband, Andrew Pringle, chairs the CANFAR board.

From left, Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research national spokesperson Valerie Pringle with Health Minister Rona Ambrose at a luncheon benefit held for CANFAR at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2015.

Other attendees included such superstar researchers in the field of HIV/AIDS as Dr. Mark Wainberg from Montreal, Dr. Sean Rourke from Toronto, Irish Ambassador Ray Bassett, federal cabinet minister Candice Bergen, Anne McGrath, national director of the NDP, CANFAR president Christopher Bunting and luncheon co-chair Sheila O’Gorman.

From left, CANFAR president and CEO Christopher Bunting with national spokesperson Valerie Pringle, event co-chair Sheila O’Gorman and guest speaker Ashley Murphy, 17 at a luncheon for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2015.

The younger Murphy contracted HIV from her birth mom, whose hard life led to hard habits, like substance abuse. She developed full-blown AIDS, and at six months of age, weighing only 3.7 kg (8.3 lbs), Murphy was given about a month to live.

From left, Dr. Sean Rourke, a scientific researcher in HIV/AIDS, with Dr. Mark Wainberg, director of the McGill University AIDS Centre, at a luncheon held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in support of CANFAR, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research.

Enter Kari Murphy, the foster mom who already had her hands full when she agreed to care for the baby. “She’s the woman who saved my life,” the younger Murphy told the crowd of the unconditional love that she came her way. “They were afraid I would die alone so they never put me down for a moment.”

Skipping ahead to age seven, Murphy was sat down and told she had HIV. Her parents advised her against telling others, worried it might provoke negative reaction, but the little girl saw no harm in going public about a virus that wasn’t her fault. She recalled the response of one boy to the news: “Cool. I’m lactose intolerant.”

Other parents were less accepting. She was excluded from birthday parties, sleep overs and even playing with neighbourhood kids. As for the bullying, she found strength through the support of her parents and nine siblings, most of whom have a range of special needs, from cerebral palsy to developmental delay to complex genetic syndromes.

Ashley Murphy, with her mom, Kari, spoke about growing up HIV positive at a luncheon for CANFAR (Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research) held Tuesday, May 12, 2015, at the Rideau Club.

“I was surrounded by love, mixed with leg braces, walkers and wheelchairs,” said Murphy. ” [The bullies] would have to get through them to get to me.”

The mother also shared her own story, of how she and her husband, plagued by miscarriages and complicated births, achieved their dream of a large family by taking in children in desperate need of a good home. Their strong, loving Ajax, Ont. family of 12 is one that’s filled with boisterous dinners, practical jokes and laughter, and family trips that require two vehicles, the room heard.

“Your life may take unexpected turns, and obstacles will be put in your path, but keep your eyes open for other opportunities that this universe has for you,” the mother told the room. “Our dream of having a large family came true in a much richer way than we could have imagined.”

Put by her another way, the lilacs may not be what you’re looking for in a perfect garden but they’re every bit as lovely as the roses.

These days, Murphy has been garnering positive feedback as a motivational youth speaker, doing her part to reduce the stigma surrounding HIV. She’s participated in such events as We Day and a fundraising gala for HIV/AIDS in Geneva, Switz.

The toughest speech she’s had to give, though, was her eulogy at the funeral of her birth mom, who was killed in a house fire in 2012. “I really hope that my birth mom is proud of me and that I’ve turned a negative part of her life into a force of good,” she said.

The youth also spoke about her hope of one day experiencing life without HIV and the many side effects she must tolerate from the medication that keeps her alive.

Since 1987, CANFAR, a privately funded national charity, has awarded more than $18 million to HIV/AIDS research projects searching for a cure.

Shirley Westeinde with her host, RBC regional president Tina Sarellas, at a luncheon held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in support of CANFAR (Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research).

From left, Anne McGrath, national director of the NDP (New Democratic Party) with Candice Bergen, Minister of State for Social Development, at a luncheon benefit for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2015.

From left, Henrietta Southam with Irish Ambassador Ray Bassett and his host, Sheefra Brisbin, a partner at Greenbridge Consulting Group, at a luncheon held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in support of CANFAR (Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research).

Vicki Heyman, wife of U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman, attended a luncheon held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2014, in support of CANFAR (Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research).

From left, Lori Darragh, Terri Hoddinott and Peggy Cork were among the 120 attendees of a luncheon held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, to raise funds for CANFAR, a charitable foundation dedicated to eliminating HIV/AIDS through research.

Chantal Biro-Schad of Schad boutique with her friends Maria Bassi and Nella Zourntos at a luncheon held at the Rideau Club on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in support of CANFAR, a charitable foundation dedicated to eliminating HIV/AIDS through research.

carolyn001@sympatico.ca