Ottawa bureau Through a raucous political career involving many battles, political accusations against him and sometimes-strategic retreats, public safety minister Vic Toews occasionally has had to eat some crow.
And as one of the faces of the Conservative government’s tough-on-crime agenda, Toews does not cultivate a warm public image.
But he likes his chicken, and on Canada Day in Ottawa, thousands of Canadians will be offered a chance to eat Vic Toews chicken, or at least chicken cooked the way he likes it.
Last week in Ottawa, he portrayed a warmer public image as he stood beaming as his chicken recipe won a contest sponsored by Chicken Farmers of Canada.
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CFC invited MPs to submit their favourite chicken recipes as part of their support for Canadian food banks, and 72 responded with recipes.
In the end, Toews’ Pesto Chicken Philly Melt won the contest, and it will be the recipe used to prepare chicken for as many as 10,000 who attend the annual CFC picnic in a park near Parliament Hill July 1.
The national chicken producer lobby says it will donate $10,000 to a food bank in the minister’s southern Manitoba Provencher constituency.
Two runner-up MP recipes from Toronto New Democrat Olivia Chow and Quebec New Democrat Sylvain Chicoine will draw donations of $5,000 and $2,500 to food banks in their ridings.
Maple Leaf Foods will provide the chicken.
CFC will publish an online cookbook of all the chicken recipes on its website at www.chicken.ca.
