Valentine's Day In Ottawa: Political Leaders Open Up About Their Love Lives (PHOTOS)
share this story
It wasn’t necessarily love at first sight when some of Canada’s political party leaders met their spouses.
The Liberal Party’s interim leader Bob Rae told The Huffington Post Canada he fell head over heels for Arlene Perly Rae when he first saw her — but the feeling wasn’t exactly mutual.
“On my part yes, on her part with a little persuading,” he wrote in an email.
HuffPost asked all the party leaders in the House of Commons where they spent their first date with their loved one, if it was pounding heart beats and butterflies in the stomach that marked their first encounter and where they planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who isn’t married, told The Huffington Post, she’s single and has “no time for romance.”
“Way too busy,” she wrote, with a smiley face.
NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel met her second husband Englishman Bernie Wheeler in London, England, in 1986 when she was travelling. They kept in touch, on occasion travelled together and six years later they decided they were both interested in something more than friendship.
Bloc Quebecois leader Daniel Paillé refused to answer HuffPost’s questions saying a person's love life should remain private. The father and grandfather of two is not married.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mrs Harper were both unavailable to comment.
Loading comments… 
First Posted: 02/14/2012 9:41 am Updated: 02/15/2012 8:14 am