SNAIL MAIL GREETINGS
Ontario’s politicians are keeping the Christmas card tradition alive — customized and signed,
Yule be forgiven if you think mailing out Christmas cards is passé for the iPad-clutching, BlackBerry-wielding politicians of today.
At Queen’s Park, MPPs of all political stripes take precious time away from their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to personally sign carefully selected customized cards to send to constituents, supporters and friends.
Here are some of the scores of greetings received at the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau this holiday: Premier Kathleen Wynne The Liberal premier distributes a staggering 48,000 cards annually. This year’s effort boasts a beaming Wynne with her two daughters, her son, her granddaughters and grandson, and spouse Jane Rounthwaite. All are sporting patriotic Hudson’s Bay Co. Canadian gear while hiking in a forest.
Inside, there are seasonal greetings in 31 different languages. Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown The rookie Tory chief will send out 12,000 cards this Christmas, his first since taking the party helm in May. Brown, a bachelor, opted for a family portrait on the steps inside the Ontario Legislative Assembly. He is with his 101-year-old grandmother, his parents, his sisters, brother-in-law and his two toddler nephews. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath The veteran New Democratic Party boss will be mailing about 11,000 cards this holiday season. Horwath, the single mother of an adult son, chose a candid photograph of her making Christmas cards with school-aged children at the Immigrant Working Centre in her hometown of Hamilton. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner As the only major party leader without a seat at Queen’s Park, Schreiner doesn’t have an MPP’s postal budget, so he sent out 1,000 cards. He and his wife and daughters posed on a farm outside Guelph for a card on recycled paper by an environmentally friendly “waterless” printing company. Liberal MPP Steven Del Duca The bald transportation minister and Vaughan MPP cheekily opted for a photo of his family outside Tom’s Barber Shop and Men’s Hairstyling, which was located in a Woodbridge Ave. cottage dating back to 1919. The salon operated for 44 years before the building was moved to Woodbridge Fairgrounds in 2013. Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod The affable Nepean-Carleton MPP and her husband, Joe Varner, are shown enjoying a stroll near the Vimy Ridge Memorial in Barrhaven’s Claudette Cain Park.
Their energetic 10-year-old daughter, Victoria, clad in her Nepean Wildcats hockey jacket, shows off her handstand skills picked up at Nepean Corona Gymnastics. Progressive Conservative MPP Laurie Scott The Haliburton—Kawarthas Lakes—Brock MPP is known for her impish Christmas cards and this year’s effort is no exception. Scott and her horse, Mini Prince Hardy, are posing with Phineas, a feisty terrier. “Ask Santa to take him back,” reads the inside of the card, presumably quoting her unhappy steed. Liberal MPP Glenn Thibeault Thanks to all of the controversy surrounding l ast February’s Sudbury byelection, the former NDP MP turned Liberal MPP’s card merits analysis. It’s an autumnal scene of Thibeault with his family and their dogs, though it is hard to say if the leaves are turning from NDP orange to Liberal red or vice versa. Progressive Conservative MPP Tim Hudak The Niagara West—Glanbrook MPP — and former Tory leader — has found new political life promoting regulation of the sharing economy, including as Uber. This Christmas, he shares a picture of his wife, Deb Hutton, and daughters Miller and Maitland and their Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever Tavish at home in Wellandport. Liberal MPP Kevin Flynn The labour minister works long and hard to select his Christmas card. Flynn’s choice features the artwork of two students from St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Secondary School in his riding of Oakville. The cover is by Grade 11 student Taylor Tabry-Dorzek while the back is by Doreen Zheng, a Grade 12 student.