Two months

Had my head down today. The Flaherty budget report is done and printed, but there the work is not over yet. Since the thing clocked in an almost 70 pages, I need a summary or recommendations, press release and other materials to accompany it. And maybe some nice folders which I’ll pick up at Staples tomorrow (might as well live in that place).

It all takes time, and being a workaholic perfectionist, I like to finish these things off myself. Plus I have that speech to write for the Quebec riding on Monday, and a slew of correspondence, plus that Blackberry of mine never stops vibrating, doing its wild little freaked-out belly dance on the desk top in front of my computer.

But I am sure not complaining. Two months to the day since being elected, I wake every morning looking forward to the adventure of being an MP. The constituency office is now purring along, with Sharon and Esther not only caught up on the backlog of a few thousand letters, but spearheading their own initiatives. They have organized a task force on finding better ways of getting high-speed Internet service into the rural areas of the riding, and the first meeting takes place tomorrow night.

Of course, we are already campaigning for the next election, with several hundreds doors knocked in recent days and big plans for the warmer weekends to come. In Ottawa we got into the new office space just a week ago, and they have been swamped with everything from coping with hundreds and hundreds of queued-up emails to getting the gear and bandwidth in place to fire up the webcasting studio.

Next week I am back on the Hill for a couple of days of intensive caucus meetings, which will be a prelude to the main events – Parliament resuming on the third, then the Speech from the Throne, then the first blood of QP (question period), then on to the budget and some seriously long days stuffed with votes.

Of course, next week I will give minister Flaherty his opus, and then hope for the best – although I feel just doing this consultation with the people was well worth the effort, whether the government acts on my suggestions now, or later. After that, I ‘ll be spending some quality time with my nose in procedure books, as I draft the private member’s bills I have promised people.

Meanwhile I have been pleased to see some of the newly-minted Harper ministers taking stands. Jim Prentice had some poignant things to say about water quality on native reserves this week, while Gordon O’Connor made the right noises in response to stories Canadian troops in Afghanistan have to buy their own boots. And speaking of that part of the word, it was heartening to hear Stephen Harper made the call to Karzai today, saying Canada expects nobody in that country will be executed for the crime of being a Christian.

After all, Afghan buddies, our troops are over in your country, spilling Canadian blood for the sake of protecting you, as you build a democracy. The least we expect from that new openness is tolerance and inclusion for everyone, not a death sentence for a guy who converted from Islam. So, good on PMSH for doing the right thing.

Finally, on a political note, our new Conservative riding executive in Halton met a night or two ago, in a local hotel where the chef had apparently passed out shortly after the dinner order was placed. No connection, I hope. The meeting was upbeat, productive, brimming with ideas and – best of all – the room was absolutely packed. I know this is going to be a great year.

And, then, a postmortem last night on the recent election campaign, attended by candidates and managers from GTA-area ridings, conducted by the political gods who masterminded it all. Esther was there, of course, and heard some interesting comments on the growing importance of blogs in politics! She was even asked, snidely, if she was podcasting the evening from her earrings.

Ha, ha, what a laugh. If they only knew…