Yolande James: what's not to like?

   I wrote a long feature on fitness and provincial politicians. It appears in today's Gazette, but a bit that I sent in later seems never to have made it in. It reflects a recent interview that the Cabinet Minister recently found time to grant me.
Here's the bit that didn't make it:

   The Queen of the Assembly gym, according to many, is Quebec’s Minister of Families, Yolande James, 33, who’s in bed every night by eleven and hits treadmill six days a week at5:30 a.m. where she dashes for about 40 minutes at a brisk 8 miles an hour. “On the days I don’t do it I feel slower in the brain,” she says. “I just don’t feel as energetic if I miss. Running provides the energy to do important and challenging work and it’s the one time I have alone with myself. It’s important to have that time to clear my mind and concentrate on what’s coming in the day.”
   James is also known for having healthy snacks strategically within reach as a way to beat the temptation to gorging on fast food but she also refrains from cajoling those with more slovenly ways. “It’s a personal thing but I’ve seen other colleagues get into exercising and they see that it’s a good feeling, they see it can become like a drug with all the endorphins flowing.”