Sooner or later, politicians trolling for votes in Toronto apparently have to try their hand at bocce, a ball sport that followed migrants from Italy to Canada and seems especially popular among older men.
Thursday was Stephen Harper’s turn during his visit to the riding of Vaughan, north of Toronto and an area with a sizeable Italian Canadian population.
He was campaigning for Julian Fantino, a former Ontario Provincial Police commissioner and an Italian immigrant himself, when he visited the Chancellor Community Centre in Woodbridge, Ont.
There Conservative Leader and his wife joined a group of seniors for a rousing game of bocce.
While Mr. Harper appeared to grasp the basics of bocce after a few throws, his bigger challenged turned out to be calming the nerves of a frazzled youngster.
After a brief game he posed for a group photo with kids who’d been watching the match from the sidelines.
Alas, one young girl with pigtails wasn’t having any of it. She burst into tears while she was posed on Mr. Harper’s lap.
Crying kids are an occupational risk for politicians – what with cameras snapping pictures and all – but the girl settled down a bit after she was placed on the floor instead.
