BEYOND LIP SERVICE
Transportation Minister Ric Mciver has his moustache shaved off Wednesday by his wife Christine of the Kids Cancer Care Foundation during a fundraiser.
Ric Mciver’s ’stache is a thing of the past.
The longtime politician says he was 16 the last time he looked in a mirror to see his upper lip bare. But the 61-year-old’s signature facial hair was gone as of Wednesday, shaved off to raise money for the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta.
“It was weird,” said Mciver, Alberta’s transportation minister and a former member of Calgary city council.
“I’ve never looked at myself in the mirror so much as I have since. I keep staring at myself, like, ‘wow, I guess that’s what you look like when you don’t have fur on your lip.’ It’s a little bit different.”
The event, dubbed the Big ’Stache Off, helped raise more than $407,000.
Mciver wasn’t the only one to shed his moustache for the cause on Canada Day.
He was joined by Kristopher Perraton, whose father, Jack, chaired the board of directors at Kids Cancer Care and died in 2012 following his own battle with cancer.
The charity was founded by Mciver’s wife, Christine, who lost her son Derek to a brain tumour just months before his 10th birthday.
Christine said Kids Cancer Care has never seen a bad fundraising year until this one.
She said the organization hasn’t been able to rely on its typical fundraising events such as galas and golf tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID hit and now we’re all scrambling,” she said.
“I think it has been hard on all charities and we’ve really had to do fundraising differently.”
Kids Cancer Care aims to help Alberta children and families at each stage of their cancer journey. The foundation is currently offering therapeutic and recreational outreach programs through online platforms as the pandemic drags on.
This summer, the foundation will host Camp Kindle — which offers programs for children with cancer — on a limited basis.
“It’s just really important to have our kids going to camp, and funding research and doing all the important work that Kids Cancer Care has been able to do over the last 25 years,” Christine said.
“It really struck a chord with people to do something like this.”
She said shaving her husband’s moustache for charity has been a long time coming.
“He always knew that I had a bounty on his moustache,” she said.
“Other charities have asked, ‘would you shave your moustache for us?’ and he’s said, ‘no, I’m sorry, my wife owns this.’ I had dibs. We knew that this was the right time to do it.”
Upon seeing him moustache-less for the first time, Christine said she was impressed by the new look.
“It’s like having a new man,” she said jokingly.
For her husband, it was “a real fun way to do something good.”
“It was kind of giving people an excuse to point and laugh at me and make fun,” said the politician.
“It’s a little more fun because I’ve had the moustache for so long.”
As for whether Alberta political watchers have seen the last of the ’stache, Mciver said he will decide “day-by-day.”
“It’s a game-time decision,” he said.
“I’m certainly going to get used to it for a few days and then think about which way to go. It can come and go.”