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LIBERALS DANCE THE HORA
The Liberals sent a battalion of MPs and party members to the recent Walk for Israel in Toronto. Stéphane Dion's posse included Winnipeg MP Anita Neville and Toronto MPs Ken Dryden, Joe Volpe, Bob Rae, Gerard Kennedy and Michael Ignatieff, to name but a few. One higher-up at the United Jewish Appeal Federation, the walk's organizer, was grumbling over the fact Ignatieff has not gone on the trip to Israel he promised to take after creating a storm during the Liberal leadership race when he said the Israeli attack on
Qana, Lebanon, was "a war crime." The deputy leader of the Liberal party told Capital Diary he hopes to go in October.

Some Liberals were snippy that the Conservatives had only one MP present, Environment Minister John Baird. While Dion got yelled at by one man over some UN resolutions concerning Israel that Canada supported under the former Liberal government, the environment minister was warmly greeted. In fact, Baird has been doing very well with the Jewish community. He received a standing ovation at Congregation Chevra Kadisha B'nai Jacob-Beit Hazikaron, an Orthodox Montreal synagogue, for a speech supporting Israel. Members said they can't recall anyone ever getting a standing ovation in the synagogue. One of the most impressive Liberals at the walk was Dion's wife, Janine Krieber, who joined her husband and MPs to dance the hora. She was wearing high-heeled wedge shoes and didn't miss a beat.

The seven-kilometre walk had four stops. Most politicians bailed after the first one. Capital Diary was only able to find two MPs, both Liberals, who walked the walk until the end. One was Irwin Cotler, who is Jewish and a darling of the Canadian Jewish community. The other was Borys Wrzesnewskyj, who said during a trip to Lebanon last summer that Canada should negotiate with Hezbollah, a group on Canada's terrorist list. He was condemned by his party and had to resign as deputy foreign affairs critic. Wrzesnewskyj carried and
waved an Israeli flag the whole walk.

STRATFORD CHICKEN
When London, Ont., NDP MP Irene Mathyssen taught Grade 12 English, she caught Rob Hepburn passing a note ranking the top five hottest girls in the class. "I got a talking-to about respect for women," says Hepburn, who is now 23 and the MP's riding association president. He recently helped coordinate a local fundraiser for Mathyssen at Fanshawe Pioneer Village, where the NDP's critic for the status of women sported 1860s attire. She also wore a green stone pinned through a purple ribbon with white trim to remember English suffragists who had adopted the colours green, white and violet, the initial letters of which are the same as "Give Women Votes." Actors dressed as politicians campaigning in the 19th century provided an improvised dinner show that included Mathyssen. "Her brain is too small to vote," said one actor of the MP. At one point, the candidates decided to settle a dispute like "real men" and yelled for pistols. "I have a registered one right
here," shouted Grant Robertson of the National Farmers Union.

The meal was billed as a "100 km Sustainable" dinner: all the food came from within 100 km of London. Joan Brennan of Elegant Catering said they had to cheat and use the American 100-mile rule, which is 160.9 kilometres. The food tasted divine. The chicken was from Stratford and the maple syrup for the glaze was from a local farm. Other dinner options included beef brisket braised in cider. The one item from beyond the 100-mile limit was the beer. They served Alexander Keith's at the NDP's request, even though Labatt has a brewery right in London. Perhaps superb food and good entertainment at political fundraisers is part of why Elections Canada recently reported that in the last quarter the NDP raised twice as much money as the Liberals.