Home Again?

Weekends can get pretty busy.  I hadn’t been home for two weeks because of the Al Gore event in Montreal, but when I finally did get back to London there were numerous things that had to be done.

I arrived back at London airport shortly after midnight on Thursday and then had to speak at Ryerson Public School the next morning at nine o’clock.  Although a little tired, I still had a great time.  The kids were eager to learn about life in Parliament and seemed especially delighted when I worked through with them the process of trying to pass a bill in the House of Commons that would give them a week off.  It was all great fun.Then I met with my London staff about upcoming events I was taking part in throughout the riding.  They were great and eager to get on with a work that they believe to be pretty valuable to London North Centre.In the evening, my wife Jane and I went to the Ontario Citizenship and Immigration awards at the Marconi Club, where volunteers were recognized for their invaluable service to the London community.  Six London Food Bank volunteers were among the group honored and it was a pleasure to see them get the recognition they deserved for such outstanding work.Saturday morning saw me at William’s Pub, the coffee house by Victoria Park, meeting with some key volunteers about putting on some important events over the next couple of months.  We talked about the difficult balancing act of working hard in London while at the same time attempting to carry some of the foreign affairs file for the Liberal Party.  Fortunately, for the last 20 years I have been trying to straddle a life between those two great pursuits and it keeps my family, friends and staff pretty busy – and understanding.And then we loaded the kids into the car and headed to Toronto for the great rally for Darfur, held at Nathan Phillips Square and hosted by STAND Canada and Project Equity.  I was asked to be the key speaker, but my great joy came in bringing Jane and kids on the stage.  They were a huge hit and the rally itself went a long way towards keeping the Darfur situation uppermost in the Canadian mindset.  The family dropped me off at Pearson airport at five o’clock on the way back to London.  I arrived back in Ottawa at 7 p.m.And so another weekend passed – no time for reading or writing, or even getting the kids’ trampoline set up in the back yard.  It’s difficult at times, but when I consider all the remarkable people I spent time with in London and Toronto, I count myself very fortunate to work with such dedicated individuals.