I attended the Christmas party for the Conservative Party's Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca Electoral District Association last night. It was hosted by future MP Troy Desouza and featured a "Special Surprise Guest". The guest turned out to be former journalist turned member of the upper house, Senator Mike Duffy. It was quite a treat to hear this man speak. With his wealth of experience and self-deprecating sense of humour, he kept the group entertained. One anecdote that I will attempt to re-tell is from the days when Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister. It went something like this:
When Mr. Trudeau was PM, he had a press secretary by the name of Jean Charpentier. Jean passed away recently, but not too long before, told Mr. Duffy this story. At that time, after a session of Parliament there wasn’t too much trouble with security and they even used to scrum outside. At one such scrum, Mr. Trudeau noticed a younger man eyeing him that made him feel quite uncomfortable. Later, he spoke to his press secretary about this man. “Jean, who was that guy today – the one with the black hair, lots of Brylcreem?” he asked. “He was looking at me with a weird look in his eye and it was making me uncomfortable” he said. When Jean Charpentier said that he didn’t know him the PM told him to find out and make sure he didn’t come back. Jean traced the man to a National Newspaper where he worked. Jean spoke to the editor who then confronted this intern reporter. “What were you doing staring at the Prime Minister at the scrum yesterday” he asked. The reporter replyed sheepishly: “I was doing homework”. “Homework! What do you mean?” the editor continued. “Well I’m taking a course at Algonquin College on hypnosis” he said. Mr. Duffy concluded his story by saying : “What followed was 15 years of bad government”.
When Mr. Trudeau was PM, he had a press secretary by the name of Jean Charpentier. Jean passed away recently, but not too long before, told Mr. Duffy this story. At that time, after a session of Parliament there wasn’t too much trouble with security and they even used to scrum outside. At one such scrum, Mr. Trudeau noticed a younger man eyeing him that made him feel quite uncomfortable. Later, he spoke to his press secretary about this man. “Jean, who was that guy today – the one with the black hair, lots of Brylcreem?” he asked. “He was looking at me with a weird look in his eye and it was making me uncomfortable” he said. When Jean Charpentier said that he didn’t know him the PM told him to find out and make sure he didn’t come back. Jean traced the man to a National Newspaper where he worked. Jean spoke to the editor who then confronted this intern reporter. “What were you doing staring at the Prime Minister at the scrum yesterday” he asked. The reporter replyed sheepishly: “I was doing homework”. “Homework! What do you mean?” the editor continued. “Well I’m taking a course at Algonquin College on hypnosis” he said. Mr. Duffy concluded his story by saying : “What followed was 15 years of bad government”.
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