The House of Commons in Ottawa had a water break to deal with this week, not the kind that requires a call to a plumber.
Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty knew he was close to becoming a grandfather for the first time when he returned to Parliament to continue his push to bring nationwide 9-8-8 mental health hotline phone service to Canada.
Seconds before it was his turn in Question Period on Monday to ask Health Minister Patty Hajdu for the government’s support of his 9-8-8 suicide-prevention hotline, Doherty received a text message from his wife Kelly to inform him their daughter Kassi in Prince George had just gone into labour.
The news totally derailed Doherty’s train of thought and the wording of his question slipped his mind. Instead, he addressed House Speaker Anthony Rota in a clip that made national news.
“Mr. Speaker, pardon my nervousness, I just got a text message from my wife, my daughter’s water just broke and I’m going to be a grandfather for the first time,” said Doherty. “I completely forgot what I was going to say.”
The first text from Kelly Doherty to Todd was a clip from the Grace and Frankie comedy series in which Lily Tomlin, who plays Frankie, finds out her daughter has gone into labour and jumps up from her chair yelling, “the baby’s coming, the baby’s coming” over and over. Doherty couldn’t play the video and asked Kelly to be up front with him and she relayed the reason for her texts.
“We knew our daughter was close, but she wasn’t due until around the 10th of December,” said Doherty. “I was home last week and we were saying to her, ‘You can have it now,’ because I obviously didn’t want to miss the birth.”
Doherty immediately left the Parliament building to make travel arrangements back to Prince George and later that evening was on a connecting flight from Toronto to Vancouver when he learned Kassi and her fiance Marc Kraima were the proud parents of a seven-pound baby girl they named Ren Kathleen.
“On my first flight I was crying, I was such an emotional mess, and the flight attendant came and asked if I was OK,” said Doherty. “You can’t see because you’ve got the mask on but I was a blubbering mess and it was a good thing the mask was on because I was ugly crying. It’s just an amazing feeling.
“You love your kids so much, and then when you have a grandchild your heart just swells. I didn’t think it was possible that my heart could be filled with this much love. This has been such a rough year for so many and you just need that good news.”
The following day, Doherty used his cell phone to join the other MPs in a vote to support front-line health care workers and while registering his vote he shared a photo of his granddaughter with the rest of the House, which goes against parliamentary protocols which forbid members from using any props during votes.
His transgression was forgiven.
Adam Vaughan, the Liberal MP for Spadina-Fort York, texted Doherty to tell him it was the best use of props he’d ever seen and Doherty’s phone lit up with support from all the parties. Former Green Party leader Elizabeth May made a motion in Ren’s honour that the House” thank the member for Cariboo-Prince George for sharing his joy with us today and encourage him to continue doing so,” which was unanimously approved.
“I think people see the partisan side of politics all the time and I try to tell people that what people don’t see is we genuinely care for what happens to people on the other side and we’re just human beings,” said Doherty.
Doherty returns to Ottawa on Sunday for the final week of House sessions before the Christmas break and he hopes to continue pressuring the Liberals to support his suicide prevention measures. He’s encouraged by the gathering momentum around the country to support his mission to bring an easily-remembered three-digit hotline for Canadians in distress to access mental health counsellors.
“I just said to the (health) minister, Canadians want this, mental health associations want this, telecoms support this, all we’ve got is non-committal talking points,” said Doherty. “I’ll do all the heavy lifting. The minister says she cares and if she really cares will she commit to working with me to bringing 9-8-8 to Canada, and if she doesn’t, just have the courage to say so. Let’s not continue to build hope to Canadians about this if it’s not going to happen.”
Mandi Mugsridge, of London, Ont., started a change.org petition in favour of the 9-8-8 line which has close to 31,000 names. As a 13-year-old, Mugsridge waited two hours trying to speak to someone through a suicide prevention help line and her call went unanswered.
“All 338 Members of Parliament I am sure have been touched by suicide in some way or another, whether by constituents or even family and friends, and that this impacts everybody,” said Doherty. “We know that the rates of suicide have quadrupled during COVID and the rates of people that are having suicidal thoughts - there was a study that came out this week by the Canadian Mental Health Association and UBC that showed that we are really in a mental health crisis and we need to do something to remove the barriers for people seeking help.”
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