Confessions of a gay political spouse

I have a Xmas Day release on the national page of Xtra.ca - an interview with MP Rob Oliphant's husband, Marco Fiola. This was an interview I did a couple of weeks ago when Fiola was in town for the Liberal Party staff and caucus Xmas party, and we went for a coffee together after the Question Period scrums were over. It was a genuinely delightful interview to do, and I'm glad I got the opportunity.

Fiola and I have struck up a rapport after our first meeting at Toronto Pride this past summer, and later when Oliphant and Fiola were my "dates" to the Press Gallery Dinner in October. He's a genuine delight to talk to, and I hope that you enjoy reading the interview as much as I enjoyed doing it.

Queer calls unheeded as refugee bill dies

I have a new piece up on the Xtra.ca national page today, which is one of the pieces that I finished last week. This has been an issue that I've had my eye on for several months now, and as a result, I've developed a bit of a rapport with some of the MPs at the centre of this. Being able to track an issue like this is something that I've really come to appreciate in doing the work I do in the Press Gallery, and working for a smaller group of venues like the Xtra chain means that I can really focus on a smaller number of issues, and report on them better. (The bills around reforming Canada's Access to Medicines Regime is another good example, but most of that tracking is taking place on my Hill Queeries blog.

As for this particular piece, Olivia Chow's reaction was dropped in the editing process, but otherwise it really captures what the fallout of the defeat of the bill in question was for groups concerned.

Capital Diary mention

My name cropped up in the Capital Diary column in this week's issue of Maclean's. In a paragraph about NDP MP Megan Leslie wearing a yellow sou'wester rain hat for a day on the Hill as part of a Stephen Lewis Foundation dare, the following was written:

It undoubtedly impressed Capital Xtra! columnist Dale Smith. He attacks Leslie regularly for her wardrobe choices on the gay paper's website. He calls it the Megan Leslie outfit watch.

And thus begins my infamy...

To be fair, I'm not attacking her for her wardrobe choices - I'm critiquing the choices themselves. As well, I learned at the feet of Trinny & Susannah and their "cruel to be kind" approach to teaching style, so that's where I'm coming from.

Opposition calls for border agency watchdog

I have a new piece on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which is the first of a number of articles that are coming out in the next few days. It began as a quick interview I did with Liberal MP Mark Holland in the foyer of the House of Commons last week, and my editors felt the comment was significant enough to warrant further investigation and a full article, rather than just a quick blog hit. Over the course of writing it, I was trying to get some academic feedback, but tracking down an academic at this time of year was next to impossible. (Incidentally, the experts database page on York University's website sucks. I can't understate how user-unfriendly it is). Nevertheless, it was a decent piece that should hopefully generate more discussion on the subject.

Peter MacKay retreats on gay veterans issue

I have a new piece on the Xtra.ca national page today, and it's an update to a story I did several months ago, this time with a new Liberal critic on the file. I'm particularly glad that the critic is Rob Oliphant, one of the MPs I interact with on a regular basis for my Hill Queeries blog, so you can be sure that I'll be better able to follow up on this story on a regular basis.

Border battle 'spiteful, intolerant': MP

Just a quick note to say that my website piece from last week about the MP responses to the CBSA issue has been incorporated into a summary piece in the current issue of Capital Xtra. And hey, it's the quotes I got that made the headline, so that's pretty cool - for what it's worth.

Thoughts From the Hill - December Edition + Olympic Cleansing

I have two articles in the December/January edition of Outlooks. The first is the usual Thoughts from the Hill panel, and this month I looked at the Canadian Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) bills which are currently wending their way through the House and Senate. I've been following the two bills over on my Hill Queeries blog, and I was glad to carry over the debate to this platform. I was also very lucky that the legislative process didn't happen any faster, and that the two bills are coming up on important votes soon, rather than having already happened by now. (Such is the danger of being a monthly publication trying to be very timely and topical).

My other piece is a longer, more investigative look at the kinds of "social cleansings" happening around the Vancouver Olympics, and how that related to the kinds of cleansings from the Montreal Olympics in '76. I was turned onto this idea when I wrote about the queer youth and history article a couple of issues ago, so I'm glad that I got to explore this topic a little further.

Thoughts from the Hill is on page 16 of the issue, while the Olympics cleansing piece is on pages 23 and 24. You can download the full issue in .pdf format here.