The hats in former MP Peter Stoffer's office literally covered the wall from floor to ceiling, then they covered the ceiling. We see Stoffer, dressed in jeans, and a white ski sweater with red trim on the arms, sitting in a white straight-back chair. He is pointing upwards toward the ceiling at the thousands of hats there and on the walls. They are of all colours but appear to be mainly baseball cap style. Stoffer is a stocky man with neatly combed brown hair.

The hats in former MP Peter Stoffer's office literally covered the wall from floor to ceiling, then they covered the ceiling.
Photo Credit: CP Photo / Sean Kilpatrick

MP leaving his past behind–in a big way

The man who turned a lot of heads in his Ottawa office with an eclectic collection of hats and caps is putting the finishing touches on what’s left of his 18 years in the nation’s capital.

When New Democrat MP Peter Stoffer was defeated in last October’s election, he had 9,000 hats (along with hundreds of pins and buttons) on the walls of his Parliament Hill office.

About 2,500 hats went shortly after his election loss.

Another 6,500 are being auctioned on Friday.

“My wife said they aren’t coming home,” Stoffer says.

“I always said when I left politics, either voluntarily or involuntarily, I would donate the hats to charity, so this Friday at the Kinsman Club, we’re selling the 6,500 hats.”

Stoffer arrived in Ottawa with three hats, but people just kept giving him more.

“From Newfoundland to B.C., people in their wills just sent them to me in the mail, by truckloads I got all kinds of them, I just put them on the wall,” he says.

The hats include everything from sports caps, commemorative hats to military caps.

Auction prices range from one to 10 dollars.

The sale will benefit the Kinsmen, Kinettes, HMCS Sackville Trust and a group serving veterans and the physically challenged.

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