Christmas at Queen’s Park IS IN THE CARDS
With voters headed to the polls June 7, politicians do not want to forget anyone
The Christmas cards will arrive before the campaign pamphlets.
With the holiday season upon us, MPPs from all political parties are busy sending out their annual greetings to family, friends, constituents, stakeholders and journalists.
There is always an added urgency around election time and, with voters headed to the polls June 7, politicians do not want to forget anyone on their list — regardless of whether they were naughty or nice.
Premier Kathleen Wynne is mailing out 46,000 Christmas cards this year — up from 45,000 last year.
Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has tripled his output to 30,000 cards from 10,000 a year ago. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who sent 19,000 in 2016, is distributing 32,000 cards — 7,000 on paper and 25,000 digitally.
Wynne’s card features a beaming premier with her granddaughters and grandson and spouse Jane Rounthwaite at her daughter’s home in Orangeville.
Inside, there are seasonal greetings in 31 different languages and the inscription: “Best wishes for the holidays!”
Unlike her cards from past few years, Wynne is not wearing her trademark spectacles. That’s part of a very subtle image makeover the Liberals have undertaken to soften her edges on the eve of campaign season.
On the card’s back, the premier and her family are pictured frolicking in the autumn leaves in a park near her Toronto home.
Brown, a bachelor, again appears on his card with his parents, his sisters, his brother-in-law, his nephews and his 103-year-old grandmother.
The family portrait, taken at his sister’s home, displays his new electionready hairstyle that the Tories hope will improve his image.
But on the back of his card the smiling PC chief is shown fishing with two of his nephews on Kempenfelt Bay on Lake Simcoe, still sporting the more severe gelled look he abandoned earlier this fall.
A happy-looking Horwath, the single mother of an adult son, is shown dressing a Christmas tree with the granddaughter of a staff member. The photo was taken at an NDP tree-decorating party in her office for staffers and their children and grandchildren.
“Wishing you and your loved ones, health and prosperity in the coming New Year,” reads the inscription.
Polls consistently show Horwath is the most popular of the three major party leaders — and the only one who performs better than her party in surveys — and her card underscores the folksy, accessible image the New Democrats have cultivated.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner, who is not an MPP and therefore does not have a mailing budget, sent out 1,058 cards — 58 more than last year. His card features him with his wife and their daughters at their new home in Guelph, where he is running next June.
As befits the head of an environmental party, it is made from recycled stock by a “waterless” printing company.
“Thanks always for your kindness, friendship and support,” reads the inscription.
Animals frequently seem to infest politicians’ yuletide cards, and this year is no exception.
Progressive Conservative MPP Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Kawarthas Lakes-Brock) is depicted patting a cow stencilled with the Maple Leaf flag — to mark Canada’s 150th birthday — along with young Hannah Cameron, whose parents are cattle farmers.
“It should say ‘Moo-rry’ Christmas,” Scott joked as she dropped off cards at the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau the other day.
Cameron is sporting Canadian hockey gear in the picture that was taken with the “best-dressed cow” at the Bobcaygeon Fall Fair in September.
Snapshots of Scott’s horse, Mini Prince Hardy, and her terrier, Phineas, who have appeared on the front of past cards, are printed inside.
“How did we end up on the inside cover this year?!” they sniff.
Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca and his family pose with a Christmas-ribbon-wearing alligator and a turtle on their card.
The photo was taken at Reptilia, Canada’s largest indoor reptile zoo, which is located in Del Duca’s Vaughan riding.
Liberal MPP Bob Delaney (Mississauga-Streetsville) poses on his card with his wife, Andrea Seepersaud, and their cats, Merlin and Bebe.
Progressive Conservative MPP Michael Harris (Kitchener-Conestoga) and his family are joined by their cockapoo Eliot in a picture taken at Castle Kilbride in Baden.
NDP MPP Percy Hatfield (Windsor-Tecumseh) opted for a different sort of personal touch on his card.
It was designed by his six grandchildren — all under the age of 6 — and is a lovely winter scene of a snowman, snowwoman and a bevy of snow-children under snowflakes.
On the back, Hatfield impishly displays a lush Southwestern Ontario field full of Santa hats — “A Santa Hat Field production.”