No more quiet days

For years, Stephen Harper could be seen quietly accompanying his kids every morning on the short walk from Stornoway, the residence of the official opposition leader in Ottawa's leafy Rockcliffe Park, to their school. But all that changed when he became prime minister.

Now he trundles along, briefcase in hand, with his kids and a pair of RCMP security guards while his armoured limousine and other black sedans with red lights on their roofs wait nearby.

Having delivered his kids to school (and delivered the requisite warm handshakes), Harper hops into his chauffered car to head off to the prime minister's office.

Candid Camera

There's a must-see piece of video on CBC Newsworld's Politics broadcast tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 7). It shows, or rather, doesn't show, new Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a wacky car chase to avoid being photographed. As the Liberals would say, we're not making this up. Available for viewing on the web at:

http://www.cbc.ca/politics/

Just click on the link for Tuesday's broadcast and fast-forward to about halfway through the show.

A trim and a cabinet job

Tony Clement is back in the public eye looking a little more tuusled than his clean-cut days as an Ontario cabinet minister.

Since leaving Queen's Park, Ottawa's new health minister has let his hair grow out and his sideburns grow down his cheeks.

But in an apparent nod to his new position at federal cabinet table -- and after the private arm-twisting of advisors -- Clement broke out the razor on the weekend to trim his sideburns in advance of Monday's swearing-in at Rideau Hall.

Gone are the "third degree burns," in the words of one chuckling aide. But the tousled hair, it seems, is staying.

Andrew Steele’s Super Bowl Diary

Avid readers of this space will remember that Andrew Steele, executive assistant to Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips, won the Super Bowl tickets donated by Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory to the Queen’s Park Press Gallery charity auction.

Tory, a former commissioner of the Canadian Football League, obtained the prized tickets - face value $600 each, market value $5,000 apiece - from his friend Paul Tagliabue, commissioner of the National Football League.

A grateful Steele, who schlepped to Detroit’s Ford Field for the game, kindly allowed us to excerpt some of the live reports he filed Sunday to his many jealous friends:

This is the first of several live reports from the Super Bowl.

Steelers fans outnumber Seagulls fans about 25 to 1. The place is a sea of black and gold. Geoff - my cousin who works for Tim Hortons in Ireland - and I crossed the border from Windsor at 10 a.m. and headed to Hockeytown by the field. It was full and the line stretched around the corner.

The State Bar, another Detroit sports fixture, is just down the street. We joined the line at 11 for a noon opening.

The crowd is mildly drunk, hopelessly Steeler-obsessed and resolute to whoop it up. Only about one in five people have a ticket to the game. Geoff and I are lying if anyone asks and saying we are just here for the atmosphere.

The guys around us are all hardcore Pittsburghers. Solid beaded fat and drunk, they are the funniest and craziest fans I’ve met. They holler "Starbucks sucks" or "f--- Bill Gates" at the lonely Seahawks fans that wonder by.

Geoff and I have enjoyed a couple Coors in line. Everyone is drinking. Someone is going to make a fortune on picking up cans later.

The line got really unruly just before noon. People were out on the street and forming lines in the opposite direction. Finally, a security guy came out at noon and said if the line didn't get organized, no one got in. Staff kept showing up and food delivered through the side door in front of us. Two cops in swat outfits and long cases arrived and were obviously sharpshooter going on the roof. They looked really serious. There are at least six helicopters circling.

At 1:35 p.m. the doors opened and we got in pretty fast. The bar is HUGE with the game to be on an Elgin Theatre-sized screen.

It’s almost 2 p.m. and we are just inside, cozy, drinking draft and eating burgers.

I’ll report in from Ford Field shortly.

Security was nuts. Geoff has to throw his bag away. And the wand guys took an hour. I think they liked me...

We saw the trophy.

Rented some field glasses.

And now we are in our seats.

In brief, we are a row behind (Seahawks’ coach) Mike Holmgrem’s wife and daughter and have been lectured to not "drop the f-bomb" around them.

So during the anthem, most people are super patriots, and this one Steelers fan starts doing a striptease down to his jock strap and helmet.

I just congratulated the CEO of the Hawks on scoring first.

His response: "You’re not one of mine."

Harper? Harris? Both start with 'H'

Stephen Harper based his election campaign around the idea of running a moderate, middle-of-the-road regime. But Ontarians can be forgiven for wondering if they will in fact be getting a more right-wing government a la Mike Harris. Three former Harris ministers are taking key positions in Harper's new administration. Jim Flaherty gets the powerful federal finance portfolio, while Tony Clement is the health minister and John Baird is in charge of the key spending watchdog agency, the treasury board.

First arrivals

Conservative MP Lawrence Cannon was among the first of the new cabinet members to arrive for the swearing-in, walking into Rideau Hall around 10 a.m. He was followed soon after by Saskatchewan MP Carol Skelton and B.C. MP Gary Lunn.

Final wave

Paul Martin visited Rideau Hall this morning around 9.30 a.m. - about a half hour early - and in a short meeting with Governor General Michaëlle Jean, officially resigned as prime minister. Asked how he felt as he exited the front doors, Martin replied, "Great."

He got into his limousine and then jumped out again for one final wave and a smile to the bank of photographers and television cameras.

With that one last gesture, Martin's three-car entourage pulled away.

New government, new colours

It seems Prime Minister Stephen Harper starts his new job with a new paint job

A couple of paint-splattered workers were spotted having a smoke break Sunday afternoon outside Langevin Block, the real power centre of the Canadian government. This building, located across the street from Parliament Hill, is home to the Prime Minister's office, his staff and the Privy Council office.

Judging from the state of their clothes, it looks like they were hard at it with the paint brushes before Harper's government took over today and Conservatives officially made the move into the building.

We can only wonder at the colours. Tory blue, perhaps, tempered by a tint of minority moss green and a hint of compromise cherry?

Preparing to be PM

How does a prime-minister-to-be pass the time waiting to take power?

Harper spent much of this weekend with his closest family and friends. His mother, Margaret, has flown out from Calgary to be at the swearing-in, as have his brothers Grant and Rob, their families, and Harper's oldest friend, John Weissenberger, a Calgary geologist.

The Harpers spent a very low-key weekend, according to Weissenberger. Harper made sure to attend his son Ben’s hockey game late Saturday afternoon at an arena in Ottawa, where he signed autographs and chatted to hockey moms and dads.

On Saturday night at the official opposition leader’s residence of Stornoway, the Harper family and the Weissenbergers ordered in pizza and had a small party.

"We were having a great time ... it was very informal, with six kids running around," said Weissenberger.

Yesterday, he said, Harper and his family took a "down day" to prepare for today’s big event.

All of the people close to Harper are still coming to grips with the fact that he'll be sworn in today as the head of the Canadian government.

Though this wasn’t a childhood dream of Harper’s, it does represent the culmination of more than 20 years’ deep involvement in politics - and a far cry from the days when he and Weissenberger used to hang around talking politics and watching political talk shows on TV in Calgary.

"The prime minister thing is obviously huge, and surreal in a way," Weissenberger said.

One person missing from today's swearing-in will be Harper’s father, Joseph, who died at age 75, three years ago. Weissenberger predicts that Harper will have a few thoughts for his father today while he's standing there at Rideau Hall.

"He was such a great guy and not having him there is going to be a little bittersweet aspect to it," said Weissenberger. "But clearly his mom is very proud and we're all very happy obviously."

Blue Tories still turn red when they blush...

Conservatives are shrouding themselves in false modesty to fend off any questions about if and where they may be going in the Harper cabinet.

Former Ontario cabinet minister John Baird quipped to Conservative MP Jason Kenney that he would like to be his Parliamentary Secretary.

"I just hope you return my call on Tuesday," replied Kenney, implying that Baird would be in the cabinet and he would not.

And when asked if his recent criticism of the Kyoto Protocol on his blog meant that he would rather be Minister of Energy than Minister of the Environment, Monte Solberg replied, oh so prudently, "I would be thrilled to serve my Leader in any capacity. Either as a minister of any kind, or as vice chair of the Library of Parliament (committee)."