MPs who live together

So it's my last week as an intern. It's gone by fast but at the same time, it feels like I've been here for awhile. I'll be back at school next week, but The Hill Times will still be publishing a few of my stories in the next couple of weeks, so I'll keep posting them whenever I receive it in the mail!

********
THE HILL TIMES
Monday, January 21, 2008

FEATURE - pg. 16
"Roommates Eyking, Cuzner getting the 'seven-year itch'"
By Meghan Moloney

Liberal MP Mark Eyking says he and his roommate Grit MP Rodger Cuzner have the "seven-year itch."

Like a number of MPs, the two Cape Bretoners have shared an Ottawa apartment since January 2001, after they were both first elected to Parliament in November 2000. They're good friends, but it's never easy having a roommate. Everyone has their differences, even two Grit Nova Scotian MPs who like to kid around, believe it or not.

"We always seem to be on different sides of the fence," Mr. Eyking (Sydney-Victoria, N.S.) told The Hill Times last week. Mr. Cuzner's (Cape Breton-Canso, N.S.) "a Protestant, I'm a Catholic, he's a Toronto Maple Leaf, I'm a Montreal Canadien, he was a Chretien supporter, I was a Paul Martin supporter, it just keeps going. He was an Ignatieff supporter and I was a Dion supporter. But the overall thing is we have the Cape Breton flag--that's the main flag in the apartment."

They decided to live together after meeting on the campaign trail and realizing they didn't know anyone else in Ottawa, Mr. Eyking said. They also wanted to save money, although MPs receive a housing allowance.

Mr. Eyking and Mr. Cuzner share a two-bedroom apartment in The Juliana at Bronson Avenue and Albert Street, a building close to Parliament Hill where several other MPs live, including Liberal MP Geoff Regan (Halifax West, N.S.) and Conservative MP Carol Skelton (Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Sask.). The apartment does double duty as a living space as well as the Cape Breton "embassy," they say, providing visitors from Cape Breton with a place to stay.

"They all know it's a welcome, open house, whether they're coming up for hockey games or courses or just visiting," said Mr. Eyking. "We Cape Bretoners stick together."

Mr. Cuzner agreed, saying it's "the Cape Breton way" to help others whenever possible. But he admits the guests can get noisy, describing one occasion three years ago when he hosted 12 people who were in town for the Gatineau International Midget Hockey Tournament. "Our neighbours still aren't speaking to us about that one."

Mr. Eyking, 47, is his party's critic for small business and tourism. He's married with four children. He and his wife, Pam, ran a vegetable farm as part of Eyking farms in Millville, N.S., and he has been an active member of community and agricultural councils.

Mr. Cuzner, 52, has been a sports columnist, a radio commentator, and an event coordinator for the Cape Breton Department of Recreation, Culture and Facilities and for the City of Fort McMurray, Alta. He and his wife Lynn have three sons.

On the whole, both say they are good tenants and are learning to do domestic tasks in Ottawa. But they don't spend as much time in the apartment as they anticipated. "I remember the first time we moved in, we got all these groceries. We figured we'd be home at 5:30 every night and cook together and all this stuff. Well, that ended after the first week, with votes at night and things like that," said Mr. Eyking.

"When you're away from the apartment for periods of time, it doesn't really make sense to put a whole lot in the cupboards or in the fridge," Mr. Cuzner said. "We did that initially and you'd come back and it would be like a science experiment in your fridge."

Other domestic tasks have caused them more trouble. Mr. Eyking said they nag each other "like in any marriage." Bathroom etiquette is a serious issue. "He leaves his towel on the floor all the time, and he says I don't refill the toilet paper holder," Mr. Eyking said of Mr. Cuzner.

Mr. Cuzner, on the other hand, said that putting the top back on the toothpaste tube has never come naturally to Mr. Eyking. "He's very, very fortunate to have such a tolerant roommate," said Mr. Cuzner. "I'm sure that his wife Pam will have a spot in Heaven for looking after him all these years." When asked what in their relationship has changed over the years, Mr. Cuzner responded: "He's got far less hair to comb in the morning, so that's been significant."

It all comes as good-natured teasing. Mr. Cuzner said Mr. Eyking is hairy, for instance. "It's a little tough when he's brushing his teeth and leaves the door open, and it looks like he left his sweater on. He's a bit of a Chia Pet. So I remind him to take his sweater off," Mr. Cuzner said, taking a friendly jab at his roommate. "We're great friends, and that's only improved over the number of years that we've lived together."

The two have provided each other with much-needed support in the world of public office and partisan politics. Mr. Eyking said he has appreciated Mr. Cuzner as a roommate.

"Ottawa was a big change for me, in lifestyle and things like that, and it would have been very difficult for me without having Rodger as a roommate to get through it," Mr. Eyking said. "When I had problems, whether it's personal problems or problems as an MP, he was always there for me, and he always gave me an ear no matter what time of the day. There's a few things we joke about, but I couldn't have a better roommate."

Being away from their families in Ottawa, it's important to have a roommate to unwind with, Mr. Cuzner pointed out.

"Mark came to Ottawa wanting to help anybody that came to him with a problem," Mr. Cuzner said. "By the end of March, the first year, he was starting to realize that there were some problems that just couldn't be fixed. And I came home one night and he was really beside himself. So we hadn't been on the [Rideau] Canal before, and I said, 'Grab your skates--we're going for a blast.' So we went up and we skated up to the end of the canal and back, about three hours, and [he] just had a chance to clear his head. So that's sometimes how roommates sort of help each other out, I guess."

Even though they don't spend many waking hours at the apartment together, Mr. Cuzner said he enjoys having someone to talk to about his day, to get different perspectives or to complain about various issues. "We're not like-minded on everything, but the main thing is we have a lot of respect for each other and we do enjoy each other's time," he said.

In the building next door to the Juliana lives another pair of MPs who call themselves the "odd couple"--Conservatives Larry Miller (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, Ont.) and James Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake, Man.). They have lived together on and off since being elected and are now on their second apartment, Mr. Bezan told The Hill Times last week.

He said he has a good relationship with Mr. Miller. "We're the odd couple--he's Oscar and I'm Felix," said Mr. Bezan. "It works pretty good for us. It helps offset the cost of living in Ottawa. If one of us is away, the other one can bring our family to visit. It's good to have it that way."

Mr. Bezan said he does more cleaning than Mr. Miller, but Mr. Miller does more cooking. They both try to exercise frequently. "The building we live in has a good gym downstairs, so we've both been trying to lose some of the damn weight we've put on."


Other Parliamentary roommates include Conservatives Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast, Alta.) and James Rajotte (Edmonton-Leduc, Alta.). Mr. Kenney previously lived with Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day (Okanagan-Coquilhalla, B.C.). NDP MP Tony Martin (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) used to live with fellow New Democrat Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.), and Mr. Martin now rooms with Dennis Bevington (Western Arctic, N.W.T.).

Another pair of Conservative MPs, Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl (Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, B.C.) and Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg (Medicine Hat, Alta.), are high-profile roommates who have both blogged about living together. Like Mr. Cuzner and Mr. Eyking, they tease each other about the cleanliness of their apartment--or lack thereof.

Mr. Strahl once wrote that he had spoken on the phone with Mr. Solberg, who was washing the cereal bowl Mr. Strahl had left in the kitchen. "He had chiseled out the caked-on Cheerios, and was now soaking the bowl in industrial strength lye to get off the general scunge," he wrote. "Of course, what Monte doesn't talk about is the permanent high water mark in his bathtub ... The ring-around-the cholera in his tub has been there so long that Monte's wife Deb is threatening to ask the workers on Lyon Street to bring in their jackhammers for some general bathroom cleanup. And Monte worries about a calcified cheerio!?!"

But Mr. Cuzner said the relationship between Mr. Strahl and Mr. Solberg is likely as friendly as his own and Mr. Eyking's. "I know both of them, they both love to laugh, they're both capable Members of Parliament, but they both have a sense of humour and they're both pretty grounded guys," he told The Hill Times. But he said he and Mr. Eyking make "a much more attractive couple."