Hill Life & People
And baby makes history: Bloc couple first pair of sitting MPs to become parents
By Samantha Wright Allen November 8, 2017
Marilène Gill and Xavier Barsalou-Duval say Parliament should better accommodate young families, and they hope to help instigate that change.
Bloc Québécois MPs Xavier Barsalou-Duval and Marilène Gill with their two-month-old son Ulysse. The two represent a parliamentary first as the first couple of sitting MPs to have a baby together while elected. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
New parents have enough work in a baby’s first weeks without having to represent two ridings, attend parliamentary votes, change diapers, and breastfeed between committee meetings and Commons sittings, but that’s the new world Bloc Québécois MPs Xavier Barsalou-Duval and Marilène Gill are navigating together.
Related Stories
Politics This Morning
Your email has been added. An email has been sent to your address, please click the link inside of it to confirm your subscription.
Disaggregated data key to ensuring representative workplaces, say experts, as PMO skirts Black staff statistic
The PMO declined to provide a specific breakdown of self-identified Black staffers among cabinet offices when asked, but says it plans to circulate further voluntary surveys to better understand its staff ‘later this sumArgentina, Chile, DRC, Hungary, and Madagascar say they backed Canada’s UN Security Council bid, but closest allies are silent
The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand were among 17 countries that wouldn't comment on whether they backed Canada's recent bid for a Security Council seat. Cultural assessments needed for sentencing reform, say advocates, amid calls to address high Black incarceration rates
Justice advocates agree with the Black Parliamentary Caucus’ recent call for pre-sentencing reports, similar to the Gladue reports for Indigenous offenders, to be used for racialized Canadians.Feds should more clearly verify who is allowed to repay student loans at reduced rates, says auditor general
According to an auditor general report, ESDC 'did not properly check the accuracy of applications.'Poor data, deficiencies in case management to blame for slow pace in enforcing deportation orders, says auditor general
According to CBSA, most of the cases in its 'wanted' inventory involve individuals 'considered a low risk to public safety and are not an agency priority.'Canada needs to protect Arctic sovereignty to confront emboldened Putin, say MP and expert
Liberal MP John McKay says there will be 'incursions and intrusions and aggressive actions taken increasingly in the Arctic' by Russia. New order granting diplomatic privileges to African Union officials a ‘positive step,’ say former diplomats
The timing of the new status order—coming days before countries, including the 55 AU member nations, voted on Canada’s bid for the UN Security Council seat—is notable, say former diplomats.StatsCan to share monthly death data, says official
'We will not be able to make a determination as to whether those deaths were the result of something, but other analysts might be able to look at those questions,' says Jeff Latimer of Statistics Canada.Next Conservative leader must stop internal sniping before it becomes a ‘cancer’ that will destroy the party, say political insiders
‘Unity is the way to go’ should be the marching orders from the new leadership to all Conservative Party members, says Keith Beardsley, former deputy chief to former prime minister Stephen Harper.Trending Stories
