Lazy days of summer? Not for these MPs

As political promises go, Maxime Bernier could have been forgiven for breaking this one.

But he didn't. Which is how the Conservative cabinet minister found himself face-down in a pit of mud — literally — at l'Expo Saint-Isidore, savouring victory over a local pig.

A real pig. No political metaphors here.

"Why not?" Bernier thought, when the local mayor challenged him to compete in the rodéo de cochons event during a press conference last year.

Conservative cabinet minister Maxime Bernier beat all challengers at the July 19 rodéo de cochons at this year's l'Expo Saint-Isidore in his Quebec riding. (André Boutin/Beauce-Média)

And compete he did: practising in advance with help from a local farmer ("You have to respect the animal," he was advised) and then soundly defeating all comers in 30 seconds flat in front of 600 constituents.

"It's part of the game," he said, adding his constituents in Quebec's Beauce region know that when he says something, he'll do it — appreciating that he's "like us" and "not afraid to do things like that."

"It's only mud," he said. "The ladies in Montreal who want mud for their skin, they're paying 100 bucks for that."

'Alpha cows'

Bernier wasn't the only Canadian politician who found himself up close and personal with livestock this summer.

Liberal MP Marc Garneau tells a story from his trip to see his grandchildren in Switzerland that's equally tempting for lovers of political metaphors.

"Farmers there have a competition to see who is the 'boss cow,'" he says. Each farmer picks their "alpha cow" and then two are placed in a ring to compete.

Liberal MP Marc Garneau and his grandson Elliott, age 7, spent hours exploring the Swiss countryside during a two-week visit this summer. (Marc Garneau)

"They appear to stare at each other for a while and then one blinks and walks away," he says. The winner is the one that doesn't budge.

Garneau had the full alpine cow bell experience while hiking in the mountains with his 5- and 7-year-old grandsons, who he says move "like mountain goats" thanks to their Swiss upbringing.

While they are "mildly impressed" their grandfather used to be one of Canada's top astronauts, being a politician is a tough concept to get across.

Despite a few interruptions, his two-week family holiday was a welcome break from what he calls a "heck of a summer" staying on top of international crises in his role as Liberal foreign affairs critic.

"I sit in my seat all year when I'm doing House of Commons work," he said. Long hikes in a beautiful setting were "a lovely tonic."

Festivals, barbecues... weddings?

Quality time with family was part of New Democrat Jasbir Sandhu's decision to spend as much time as possible at home in Surrey, B.C.

"It's been a busier summer, event-wise," he says, with three or four commitments a day sometimes. So he combined work and home life, often taking his kids with him.

Among the many festivals, expos and barbecues he lists "eight or nine weddings."

"They don't expect you to stay the whole time," he says, explaining that in addition to family and friends' events he's sometimes invited because he's the local MP. With 700-800 people in attendance, it's a great chance to meet constituents.

But the mouth-watering prospect of eating one's way through the Surrey summer wedding circuit didn't play a part.

He usually eats at home, first. Otherwise, "I would balloon!"

Besides, "if you're hungry, you can't listen to people," he says, adding it's rude to be chewing on chicken wings or samosas while someone is explaining their point of view.

Canadian pride

Tory Stella Ambler put in a lot of time on the summer barbecue circuit too, carting around a big blue tent with her name on it to picnics and festivals all over her Mississauga, Ont. riding.

In bad weather, she jokes, "my tent is more popular than I am."

Conservative MP Stella Ambler takes her big blue tent around to dozens of community events each year. Her favourite constituents, she says, are the babies. (Stella Ambler)

One of the highlights for the last three summers has been an idea she got from another MP: marching in her local Canada Day parade with new Canadian citizens.

Being around so many happy people on that day, she says, is "exhausting, but so much fun."

Ted Opitz spent the summer appreciating what Canada has to offer as well — for different reasons.

The large Ukrainian population in his Etobicoke, Ont. riding, combined with his own military background, led to a sombre summer watching troubling events unfold in Ukraine.

"The older folks see history repeating itself," he says. "Stalin used to play that game."

Opitz joined International Trade Minister Ed Fast on a mission to Ukraine last month and has been helping shape Canada's response to the crisis. He hasn't taken any time off this summer, he says.

His colleague Scott Armstrong from Nova Scotia didn't have much time to relax either. He travelled to every province except Quebec for roundtables on the government's labour market agreements during his first summer as parliamentary secretary to ever-busy Employment Minister Jason Kenney.

Armstrong said it made him realize it's a "great challenge" to set national programs that meet every province's needs. As for the travel, it was so hectic there were times he forgot where in the country — which airport? what hotel? — he'd landed.

Ready to run?

Conservative Patrick Brown's summer was packed with organizing: for himself, and for local charities.

Conservative MP Patrick Brown runs in this summer's Waterfront Half-Marathon in Barrie. (Patrick Brown)

The Barrie, Ont. MP told CBC News in August he'd been to "50 cities in the last 30 days" exploring a potential Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership bid.

The provincial party meets Sept. 21 to set rules for the race, and he expects to make an announcement after that.

He started the summer with a different race: the Barrie Waterfront Half-Marathon, a charity event he helped organize in 2011.

Then in August, he hosted Hockey Night in Barrie, which Brown says is now the largest hockey fundraiser in Canada, raising $250,000 this year and more than $1.4 million since it began seven years ago.

The 4,200 tickets sold out, with rumours of some even being scalped. Fifteen other ridings now hold similar hockey fundraisers, with more talk of tapping the "huge audience for running" as well.

New coats of paint

New Democrat Dan Harris had a bit of a D-I-Y summer: he and his wife bought their first house in April, and his constituency office has been the site of a massive painting project for the last month.

New Democrat Dan Harris's Scarborough Southwest riding office now sports a beautiful mural after weeks of work this summer by local artists. (Dan Harris)

Mural Routes, with the help of the City of Toronto and a small donation from his landlord, have transformed his building into a work of art. He says he's proud to offer the community, which includes an elderly men's residence across the street, something nice to look at.

"It's going to make it hard in the future for someone to move the office," he says of the beautiful new birch tree design. "We've got the mural now to protect us."

But if that's not enough to help him stay put after 2015, he's also canvassed between 40 and 50 polls this summer, he figures.

His colleague Laurin Liu did a lot of door-to-door work this year too. But her highlight was a return to her roots.

The young MP attended McGill University's undergraduate orientation as a guest speaker. Her topic? The importance of getting involved in extra-curricular activities.

She would know, after her surprise election as part of the NDP's 2011 "Orange Crush" in Quebec, when she was still a student activist herself.

Liu is still active on student issues, with a private member's bill coming up for debate this fall on the rights of interns in the workplace.

Baby talk

Liberal Scott Brison's summer reading list featured a few titles that wouldn't have been on his bookshelf last year, like Dr. Seuss's ABC, Alligator Pie and The Gruffalo.

In fact, he's spent so much time reading that last book to his 6-month-old twin girls Rose and Claire he can recite it by memory — something he found useful when Air Canada lost the babies' luggage on a recent trip and they were separated from their beloved book.

He's even making plans to build the girls their own outdoor "Gruffalo trail" on his rural property in Chéverie, N.S.

"It changes everything," Brison said of combining politics with fatherhood. "It's completely transformative in the most beautiful way."

Liberal MP Scott Brison's twin daughters Rose, left, and Claire check out their favourite reads in their Nova Scotia home. Brison says he can now recite Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo (the book Claire is reading) from memory. (Scott Brison)

Being a dad has taught him patience, he says, and helped him realize his "parental instinct" of wanting to help was one of the reasons he went into politics in the first place.

When he and his spouse, Maxime, take the girls out around his riding, "I'm no longer the centre of attention," he says. 

Brison says he was never very good with other people's babies ("a politician shouldn't admit that," he kids) but spending time with his girls this summer has given him a new appreciation for issues like child care and work after kids, particularly for low-income families.

He also says he wants to find ways to make politics more family-friendly. "I really do miss them," he says of travelling for work.

Ever the politician, Brison adds that if anyone is wondering whether men change diapers, they should come to his house to see "bags of evidence."

Fortunately for him, the twins are sleeping through the night. Brison rises early and says he can hear Rose chirping away in her crib during his morning workouts.

"She talks a lot without saying anything," he says. "It's a sign of a great political career in the future."

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