There are broken hearts all over Ottawa this week.
Defense Minister Peter MacKay, often called the most beautiful politician on Parliament Hill, and well-known man-about-town, got married privately in Mexico on Wednesday without telling us ahead of time.
Wise move. Had he told us, dozens of photographers and nosey journalists would have showed up to spoil the event.
MacKay didn’t marry just anybody. She’s Nazanin Afshin-jam, 32, the former Miss Canada World of 2003, a beautiful singer-actress of Iranian origin with a string of university degrees as long as her arm, and a commitment to international causes and the plight of martyred children to match.
The pair have known each other for years, even though MacKay has dated other women in the meantime. She accompanied him to his cabinet swearing-in at Rideau Hall May 18. They made a fine couple.
She arrived as a child refugee with her family from Tehran in 1979. They settled in Vancouver. She later became a “torch singer” cut a few albums, set up Facebook and My Space sites and combined that career with a dedication to helping stop the execution of children in Iran and in other countries around the world.
In the past, MacKay was seen publicly with Lisa Merrithew, daughter of a former Brian Mulroney cabinet minister, auto parts heiress Belinda Stronach, even Condoleezza Rice, as the New York Times reported, and lately Jana Juginovic, director of programming at CTV news.
Several of his relationships ended in formal engagements, although in every case, MacKay never made it to the altar.
As for the broken hearts in Ottawa, well, ladies, there’s always Max Bernier.
What about Heritage minister James Moore?
Sorry, he got married in Ottawa Dec. 29 to Courtney Payne, his long-time lady friend in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office.
