Trip to Ottawa!

Over this past week my wife and I had a great few days visiting our nation's capital.  Last Friday, we met with our Member of Parliament, Kevin Sorenson.  He was able to get my wife and I passes to the House of Commons  Members' Gallery for Question Period.

Both of us found the goings-on quite facinating.  We sat above the Opposition side of the House which is on the Speaker's left directly above the Liberals with Bob Rae.  Most of the speeches/questions were made by the inexperienced NDP members practising their skills, but it was quite an eye opener watching the interaction amongst the Members "behind the cameras."   After watching the proceedings on TV many times over the years, I was impressed by the way the Speaker kept order!  No constant yelling across the floor as has happened in the past! Or maybe they were just really tired after that 40+ hour straight NDP budget voting fiasco the day before.

Later we met up with Kevin.  We sat down in the Members' Lounge for coffee.  Kevin and I talked about many things going on in and around his Crowfoot constituency, some of which affected Beiseker.  Kevin was able to give us a quick "behind the scenes" tour of  the Centre Block and the Library of Parliament before he had to dash.  He was acting as the Deputy Party Whip that day and couldn't stray far from the House.  Kevin's hospitality was second to none!

Friday evening we attended a Gordon Lightfoot concert at the National Arts Centre.

Over the weekend we did all the tourist things; museum visits, city tours, and strolling around the ByWard Market area.  I was pleased to see that either of our two official languages works just fine anywhere you go in Ottawa or across the river in Gatineau, Quebec. 

If you're looking for a Canadian destination for a trip this summer, I would heartedly suggest the Ottawa area!