Tory Leader Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen watch the royal wedding from their hotel room while campaiging in Montreal on April 29, 2011.
Stephen Harper and his wife recalled their own small-scale nuptials as they watched the throngs at William and Kate's royal wedding Friday.
"Little bigger than our wedding," the Conservative Leader said as he watched the proceedings from a Montreal hotel room. "We didn't want to attract attention."
Laureen Harper said she and her husband invited only a few people to their ceremony, an event that included specially outfitted feline guests.
"Six people and two cats," Mrs. Harper said.
"I had a little bow tie made for my one cat and a little lace collar made for the other cat," she explained.
The Harpers sat on a couch in their suite at the Queen Elizabeth hotel. The Conservative Leader had his arm around Laureen, as if they were in their own living room.
Mrs. Harper offered colour commentary as they waited for the royal couple to emerge and kiss, commenting on the outfits and remarking at how pretty Kate Middleton looked.
"People have been getting married and coronated in Westminster Abbey for a 1,000 years," Mrs Harper said.
After the kiss, and the flyover, Mr. Harper stood to make a toast with glasses of mimosas.
"Well this is a once in a generation event. Laureen and I are a little bit sorry we're not there," he said to some laughter. "More than a little bit."
He said he's looking forward to William and Kate's visit later this year.
"This is a great occasion and we're especially delighted as you all know that their royal highnesses will be making Canada their first visit this summer, so we're all going to see a little bit of this magic in our country.
Mr. Harper started Friday with a campaign stop in Montreal that featured all his area candidates. He's fighting a burgeoning NDP vote in Quebec where the party is now leading in many polls.
Then the Conservative Leader is spending the rest of the day in Ontario.
He hits the open road for a series of whistle stops in ridings en route to Toronto, including Kingston and Ajax-Pickering. In both of these areas Tories are hoping to steal the seats from Liberals.
The Kingston and the Islands riding has no incumbent after popular local MP Peter Milliken resigned and the Tories are running a star candidate, former diplomat Chris Alexander against Liberal Mark Holland in Ajax Pickering. Mr. Holland won by about 3,200 votes in 2008.
Finally Mr. Harper ends his day with another rally in Brampton, which is where the Tories hope to unseat several Liberal incumbents including Ruby Dhalla. Ms. Dhalla won by more than 770 votes in 2008.
With a report from The Canadian Press
Steven Chase