Like father, like son: Rookie MP already knows the ropes

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This article was published 01/12/2015 (3856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Elmwood-Transcona MP Daniel Blaikie strolls down a corridor in Centre Block with the ease of a veteran politician.

A security guard catches a glimpse of him and calls out: “You’re not as tall as your dad, but other than that you’re the spitting image of him.”

He shakes hands with the MP effusively.

Blaikie shrugs and acknowledges the guard is right.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t the only one in the House of Commons who is part of a political dynasty.

With his reddish-brown beard, Blaikie, 31, could easily pass for his father, former Elmwood-Transcona MP Bill Blaikie. The elder Blaikie MP represented the riding (in its various names and boundaries) for almost three decades.

He passed on his political genes to more than just his son. Daughter Rebecca Blaikie is the NDP president and was the party’s Quebec campaign manager in the October election.

Daniel Blaikie hadn’t been born when his father first sat in the House of Commons in 1979. He grew up with politics.

He initially sidestepped the political world, training to be an electrician. But the family calling sucked him in.

Perhaps in 30 years, another generation will carry it on. Blaikie’s son, Robert, was not yet a year old when Daniel won the NDP nomination for the riding, and will grow up surrounded by politics.

Like the other 214 newly elected MPs (about 200 are first-timers), Daniel Blaikie has spent the last month hiring staff and setting up offices.

He has been assigned an office, but the computers won’t be installed until the weekend.

He has staff but nowhere for them to work yet. He just signed a lease for a constituency office.

He thinks he knows what his phone numbers will be because he believes they are the same ones his dad used.

“They got passed down from my dad to Jim Maloway and now to me,” he said. Maloway was the NDP MP for one term after Bill Blaikie retired. Conservative Lawrence Toet represented the riding from 2011 until 2015.

Blaikie admits being the son of a longtime MP means he is a lot more comfortable on Parliament Hill than other rookies.

He doesn’t have to ask where the bathrooms are (he served as a Parliament Hill tour guide a decade ago) and is more familiar with the schedule. When he first arrived in Ottawa after the election, he knew where to find a place to live.

He went straight to the building his father used to live in and asked about any openings. They had one, and that was that.

He spent time Tuesday shopping for basic household needs. He said many have suggested he try IKEA but he prefers Canadian Tire, where he said he never leaves without buying more than he planned to.

Rookie MPs were briefed Tueday. He said there is a lot to learn.

“I’m looking forward to getting on with the job of being an MP,” he said.

As for advice from his father?

Blaikie said his dad has given him advice, but there is too much of it to share.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca