Cheers and tears filled the B.C. legislature on Wednesday after NDP MLA Rick Glumac proposed to his girlfriend from the chamber.
Haven Lurbiecki was in the public gallery, expecting her boyfriend of four years to make a statement about local festivals, when suddenly his focus turned to her.
“I just want to say you fill my heart with love, and I’m not afraid to share that with everyone,” said Glumac, MLA for Port Moody-Coquitlam, holding a ring box in his hand. “I just have one question for you. Will you marry me?”
Lurbiecki smiled and shook her head in disbelief before saying “Yes.” That prompted Glumac to quip: “I think it was a Yes.” He told fellow MLAs he would go up to the public gallery to make it official.
After question period, a beaming Lurbiecki showed off her blue diamond ring while Glumac told reporters he had been planning the proposal for weeks.
“I was nervous for sure … doing this in a public way like that, but I’m very happy I did it,” Glumac said. He joked that it’s not every day that politicians in the chamber get a straight answer to a question.
After the proposal, Speaker Raj Chouhan said he thought it was the first proposal in the legislature of any Commonwealth country. But, in fact, Australian MP Tim Wilson asked his partner Ryan Bolger to marry him in 2017 during a speech to parliament on the legalization of same-sex marriage.
