The List: 10 things newly minted MP Chrystia Freeland can’t live without

By Bronwen Jervis | Photography by Jason Gordon

1 | My camel carpet
In the mid-’90s, I was Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times. There wasn’t a lot to do in the city, other than go to strip clubs. So on Saturdays, I would visit the Izmailovsky Market, which was filled with rugs. The camels on this one are fun.

2 | My Ukrainian alphabet book
My kids are four, nine and 12. They’ve all read this book. I’m Ukrainian Canadian, and I speak only Ukrainian with my children. If they ask me for anything in English, they know they won’t get it. My husband, Graham, is picking up the language, too: he’s had 12 years to practise.

3 | My running shoes
I’ve been buying Asics GT-2000s for a decade. I run several times a week, so I get a new pair every six months.

4 | My Carolyn Menu painting
It reminds me of growing up in Peace River, Alberta. My mother, Halyna, would take us to galleries in Edmonton. She discovered Carolyn Menu there.

5 | My children’s instruments
My kids study violin and piano at the Royal Conservatory. I played growing up, but not very well. They get their talent from my husband.

6 | My cast iron pans
I started using cast iron six years ago. You’re supposed to let them age. One of them got so knobbly on the bottom that I decided to put it in the oven on the self-cleaning setting. Bad idea: it caught on fire.

7 | My wedding icons
Traditional ­Ukrainian weddings include crowns, rings and icons. My mother commissioned these in Kiev for my wedding. Typically, you hang them in the living room, but the kids are keeping them in their bedrooms for now.

8 | Five Roses and Traditional Ukrainian Cookery
I use these two cookbooks all the time. On birthdays, I always get requests for the walnut-almond torte from Cookery.

9 | My North Face jacket
My husband bought me this parka at the beginning of the campaign. He pointed out that it’s the perfect colour: Liberal red. I’m taking it to Ottawa.

10 | My grandmother’s pearl necklace
It was a gift on my wedding day. As the story goes, my grandfather gave it to her after he graduated from law school. His classmates’ wives all asked for furs, but my grandmother wanted something that would last forever.