ST. PAT’S BENEFIT A SHOWSTOPPER
Supporters of St. Patrick’s Home of Ottawa came one, came all under the big top Thursday for the most magnificent, most splendiferous night imaginable. They were celebrating the long-termcare home’s 150th anniversary, circus style, and raising $85,000.
There were acrobatic acts, stilt walking, and popcorn and cotton candy snacks followed by a sitdown dinner and charity auction bidding for a gourmet dinner at Irish Ambassador Ray Bassett’s stunning residence in Rockcliffe Park and a diamond ring from La Maison d’Or.
The event was the first in a series this year to mark the sesquicentennial year of an Ottawa pillar founded by Catholic nuns (Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception) to help orphaned children and aging men and women. Today, St. Pat’s delivers dignified care to elderly people through its new, 288-bed, stateof-the-art facility.
On hand for the soirée was Colonnade Investments president Jan Kaminski, chair of the St. Patrick’s Home of Ottawa Foundation board. His connection to St. Pat’s is through his late grandmother, Eufrozyna Kaminski, who, having lived through two world wars, passed away at the home in 2009 at the age of 111.
TITILLATING TIDBITS FROM MORTON
Author Andrew Morton, known for his bestselling biography of Princess Diana, shared some titillating tidbits from his latest controversial book, 17 Carnations: The Royals, the Nazis and the Biggest Cover-Up in History, at a literacy luncheon held Friday at the Métropolitain Brasserie. Jayne Watson, CEO of the National Arts Centre Foundation, was a well-prepared and disarming interviewer as she posed a series of questions to the Englishman, who came off as intelligent, articulate and unpretentious. Attendees included longtime political journalist Don Newman as well as Mary de Toro, head of the Ottawa branch of the Monarchist League of Canada. “I’m interested in anything to do with the Royal Family,” said de Toro.
The Ottawa International Writers Festival luncheons raise money for a youth literacy program. It sends authors to schools to encourage students to foster a love of reading.
$330,000 RAISED FOR WRITERS’ TRUST
You’ll forgive busy mom Jill Scheer if she hasn’t yet read all five books shortlisted this year for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. “I have four young kids, so I’m working my way through them,” she said as guests were arriving Wednesday to the Fairmont Château Laurier for this gala town’s No. 1 bestseller, Politics and the Pen.
The night raised more than $330,000 for the Writers’ Trust of Canada, a charitable organization founded by authors to advance and celebrate Canadian writers and the creation of new works. Scheer, whose other half is Speaker of the House of Commons Andrew Scheer, headed up the literary gala’s committee with NDP national director Anne McGrath.
The evening gathered a who’s who of authors and journalists, politicians and cabinet ministers, and prominent CEOs. Former newspaper magnate Conrad Black, U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman, CBC News anchor Peter Mansbridge and Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz were just a few of the faces spotted in the highly influential and recognizable 500-person crowd.
This year’s $25,000 prize was awarded to Joseph Heath, author of Enlightenment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy and Our Lives.