A company town unites for the Politics & The Pen gala

Political types celebrated the height of Ottawa’s social calendar

<p>Former Premiere of Quebec Jean Charet (L) and Green Party leader Elizabeth May at the Politics and the Pen awards gala at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa March 11, 2015. Photo by Blair Gable</p>

Former Premiere of Quebec Jean Charet (L) and Green Party leader Elizabeth May at the Politics and the Pen awards gala at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa March 11, 2015. Photo by Blair Gable

Every company town needs a highlight on its social calendar. For political Ottawa, this is it. Last night’s Politics and the Pen gala brought politicians, authors and Parliament Hill types to a Château Laurier ballroom for a swanky-dress evening to benefit the Writers Trust of Canada. Joseph Heath’s book Enlightenment 2.0 won the night’s big prize, the $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Before that, the night’s hosts, Treasury Board President Tony Clement and CBC Radio 2 host Tom Power, traded jokes and tunes (Power plays mighty fine banjo; Clement owns a guitar). And at every moment — before the dinner, between courses, and long into the night — there was the schmoozing. The reflexive, constant schmoozing.

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