New Year’s Day levee draws varied crowd
The New Year’s Day levee at Government House was packed with people of all ages and backgrounds sipping soup and punch, nibbling goodies, enjoying the pipes and big bands and greeting B.C.’s lieutenant-governor.
“I’d just like to say I appreciate all you’ve done and I came to say thank you,” a woman in a long receiving line told Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon, who welcomed attendees with her husband, Bruno Maillouox.
Levees are a tradition that originated in Britain as formal New Year’s Day receptions for government and military. They are carried on in Canada and are especially popular in Victoria, where levees take place at city halls, recreation centres and military establishments.
Guichon said her hope, in general, for 2018 is that: “We can all learn to live a little less extravagantly, so we can help heal our planet.”
This year’s levee could be Guichon’s last at Government House, as her five-year term is over and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to say whether it will be extended or if he will appoint a new lieutenant-governor.
Visitors arrived at the levee by foot, car, and on bicycles with one group coming in a school bus as part of the 20th annual Poor People’s Levee tour, sponsored by local business and labour organizations.
Four-month-old Greta Grant arrived in her dad’s stylish 1970s pram with her mom, Emily Beliveau, and grandmother, Patty Grant.
Jany Li came to celebrate her birthday for the fifth year in a row. She and her husband, John Tiffany, moved to Oak Bay from New Jersey to retire.
“This was such a wonderful thing to find on my birthday. We love coming,” said Li, who uses the name Jany in honour of her birthday month. She said her Chinese name, Yuan Xin, is also a tribute to the day as it means “one or first and happiness.”
Ken Lane and Daphne Massey stood out in the crowd, dressed in period costumes as Canada’s first prime minister and his wife.
“We’re part of a fashion group called Victorian Vogue,” said Lane, who has an excellent wardrobe collection thanks to years of operating the Royal London Wax Museum, which was the main tenant of the historic CPR Steamship building in the Inner Harbour before closing in 2010.
Lane added that Massey makes her own costumes.
Victoria’s member of Parliament, Murray Rankin, was one of the local politicians mingling about. He’s a longtime Fairfield resident and hoped to make it to at least two more levees.
“It’s tough to make it to more than one. I biked them once to avoid parking but that wasn’t easy either,” said Rankin.
His resolution for this year is to see some movement on the federal housing plan in the communities that need it.
“I’m asked everyday about the housing problem. It’s troubling. People have almost given up,” said Rankin, noting key elements of the $40-billion federal plan won’t kick in until after the next election in 2019.
“My resolution is to be focused and engaged on that issue …where I’m going to see action on the ground,” he said.
Victoria held a simultaneous levee at city hall with the mayor and council featuring live music and food by the Songhees food truck.
Channelling the spirit of all those who chose to lounge around at home on New Year’s Day, Mhairi and Dan Bennett and their son Charlie showed up in pyjamas and slippers.
The family’s sleepwear fit right in at the Irish Times’ pancakes and pyjamas party and earned a lot of jealous smiles at the levee from people who likely wished they were still in jammies.
Fifteen-month-old Charlie, dressed in a red and black flannel onesie and bear slippers, rolled around on the red carpet of the council chambers while a string quartet, Metapop Ensemble, played Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
When Charlie, who was up at 5:30 a.m., looked to be getting restless, his bathrobe-clad dad picked him up and tossed him in the air.
Mhairi’s resolution for 2018 was simple, and something which resonates with most parents: “I want to sleep more.”
Dan wrapped Charlie in his arm and said his wish for the next year is “just for everyone to be happy.”