The two solitudes

It's the norm in visits such as these to keep the Ottawa and Washington media packs separated, though the two will collide later today when Obama and Harper take a paltry few questions after their working lunch. In the meantime, the Washington-based hacks now are parked in a White House-only press filing facility at the the Ottawa Convention Centre. The talking heads are talking, the bloggers are blogging, everyone else is loading up on coffee. On the bus from the airport, much oohing and ahhing from the U.S.-based media as they got their first glimpse of the Rideau Canal, on which some late-skaters could still be seen blading their way to work. "People here skate to work? Is that ever cool!" gushed one. This prompted Major Garrett, Senior White House Correspondent for Fox News, to wax breathlessly to the Toronto Star about what a huge Washington Capitals fan he has become. "You know, until last year hockey just didn't capture anyone's imagination," Garrett told The Star. "But we get it now. Washington has an incredible team and the city is getting behind it like never before." -- Mitch Potter