PM showered in gifts, strange and wonderful
Guitars, swords, blankets among received tokens
It’s hard to see how you could go wrong with a 3D painting of Canada’s iconic maple leaf.
Or, f or t hat matter, a one- of- a- kind guitar handcrafted by Saskatoon high school students, or a framed photo of Sudbury’s giant nickel — and wouldn’t every Canadian welcome the opportunity to snuggle up in a Muskox knit sweater?
Those are just a few of the uniquely Canadian items added to the running tally of gifts that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has received since taking office last year.
The latest batch of disclosure filings, posted on the public registry last week, include both standard demonstrations of diplomatic courtesy — vases, ceremonial plates, cufflinks and paintings — as well as more personal — and occasionally offbeat — offerings from local officials, current and former caucus colleagues and other well-wishers.
A sampling:
❚ “3D framed painting of the Maple Leaf ” by Canadian artist Paul Molnar f rom f ormer Liberal MP Jack Masters “as a token of appreciation”;
❚ A “handmade guitar” from the students at Oskayak High School in Saskatoon;
❚A “framed photo of the Giant Canadian Nickel” t aken by photographer Agnus Febriyant from Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger during a “roundtable discussion at Tom Davies Square”;
❚ A reproduction of Ottawa artist Bernard Poulin’s portrait of Canada’s Liberal prime ministers;
❚A “unique” Sikh sword called ‘ Song of the Khalsa’ from the Liberal Sikh Caucus and prints of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and Anandpur Sahib from Punjabi performer Satinder Sartaaj during Vaisakhi celebrations on Parliament Hill;
❚ A Pendleton Wool Beaver State Blanket from the Seven Generations Education Institute in Fort Frances during a visit to Shoal Lake;
❚ “Limited edition” prints of Ottawa- based Robert Clugston’s “Cap- a- pie,” which is “traditional Canadian winter wear”;
❚ The outfit worn by the Canadian Olympic team at the opening ceremonies in Rio;
❚A “Qiviuk Muskox cable knit sweater” from Jacques Cartier Clothiers president Fernando Alvarez — “no special event” listed.
On t he i nternational front, the prime minister got a “hand- painted platter of the White House” from President Barack Obama during his April trip to Washington, D.C., to attend the Nuclear Security Summit. His trip to New York netted a linen- sleeved Gabriel Garcia Marquez collection, courtesy of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
Still more decorative trimmings were received from Chinese dignitaries Hu Chunhua and Wang Li, who presented Trudeau with a porcelain plate and “papercuts profile,” and a Chinese vase, respectively, while the Belize High Commissioner went with a set of coat- of-arms cufflinks and Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived in Ottawa bearing a “bronze and granite statue” of Jozef Poniatowski.
Perhaps the most unique diplomatic offering, however, came from Pakistan High Commissioner Tariq Azim Khan, who presented Trudeau with a “truck- art portrait,” although it’s not clear if it’s the same one that popped up in media coverage of the then- newly installed PM earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the latest disclosure filings show that Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is still a popular target for up-andcoming fashion designers. Over the last few months, she’s been offered a pair of wool coats as an introduction to the Zareen collection, a sampling of Souris Mini clothes for the Trudeau kids, a “one-of-kind silver feather cuff ” from ELLAments in Middle Sackville, N. S., and a “unique hand- crafted hat” from Saskatoon- based Sova Design Millinery.
But by far the most generous outpouring of diplomatic offerings occurred during the prime minister’s trip to Japan in May.
Over the course of the visit — which included both the G7 summit in Ise- Shima and meetings with senior Japanese officials — Trudeau received a Hagi Yaki vase, two hand- painted Narumi Bone China cups and saucers, a bronze carving depicting the Temple of Literature, a bottle of Dassai Sake accompanied by two handmade sake glasses, a plate decorated with a painted iris, the “prefectural flower of Aichi,” a “framed seashell art picture of cranes and turtles” and a face mask “worn in RANRYO- O during Jingu Bugaku events.”