Thursday, January 19, 2006

Laureen Teskey

Laureen who? The tradition here in Canada is that the wife of a conservative prime minister keeps her own name. No one asks about whether she has stayed home with the kids or not. We don't ask questions like that. She doesn't have to bake cookies either. We are still recovering from our last first lady who fancied herself a housewife - Maggie Trudeau.

Tonight Harper told a story about Laureen that I hadn't heard before. "She has traveled - a lot, all over, really. She spent six months driving from Johannesburg to Cairo." He indicated that she had traveled much more than he had. I can't link to another story about this. Wikipedia is notoriously inaccurate on Laureen, whom they call Laureen Harper, but has other interesting details.

Here is an article that is a couple of months old and Dec. and Jan. 14.

(Chateau Frontenac in the background.)

1 comment:

Frank said...

What are you talking about? Conservatives have had four prime ministers since the 1980s. One was a single woman and one was Mila Mulroney (wife of Brian Mulroney). Maureen McTier kept her own name but that is where "the tradition" started.

As for Laureen Teskey, she is probably trying to maintain her own identity now that she has moved out of the prime minister's residence with the kids. Separated? Probably.