Prime Minister Stephen Harper welcomes new Tory MP Eve Adams at the start of a caucus meeting in Ottawa on June 1, 2011.Adrian Wyld
There were standing ovations all around Wednesday, a lot of hooting and hollering and some well-deserved gloating - tempered, of course, with humility.
Welcome to Conservative caucus, majority style.
It was the first national Tory caucus since the May 2 election. And the first order of business for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who received the first of many standing ovations when he walked into the Centre Block's Reading Room, was to introduce all of his new MPs. There are 166 in total now, up from 143 in the last Parliament.
"This will take a couple of minutes," the Prime Minister joked as he began the introductions in alphabetical order.
Chris Alexander, the foreign affairs whiz kid who was named Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan at 34, received a huge round of applause and cheers. That was for defeating Mark Holland in Ajax-Pickering; the Liberal was enemy No. 1 for Tories thanks to his views on crime and public safety.
When it came to the Ts, Bernard Trottier from Etobicoke Lakeshore also received a lot of attention. He defeated Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. Marjory LeBreton, the Government Leader in the Senate and a true Conservative partisan, was beaming when the giant killer shook the Prime Minister's hand.
But it was a humble Mr. Harper who addressed his troops, reminding them their majority comes with the responsibility of constant work "to earn the trust of our fellow citizens."
He noted that he is fulfilling his promise to Canadians to "hit the ground running," claiming this Parliament's return to work Thursday is the "second quickest in history." The 34th Parliament, formed after Brian Mulroney's win in 1988, came back in just 21 days.
A Speaker will be elected Thursday. Governor-General David Johnston will deliver the Throne Speech on Friday. And on Monday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will deliver the budget.
"We must continue practicing the lessons of the past five years holding to our principles but also listening, caring and adapting," the Prime Minister said.
Then he asked his MPs to "pause and reflect" as they take their places in the Commons.
"I remember my first day and I think the experience was not unusual. The room seemed inspiring and humbling at the same time," recalled the Prime Minister, who was first elected in 1993 as a Reform Party MP.
"Let the memory of our first day as members of Parliament continue to inspire us all," he said. "Even more let us keep us humble in the service of our country."
And with that the media was asked to leave the caucus room - and Tory MPs were reminded to surrender their cellphones and BlackBerrys to avoid anything leaking out.