Stephen Harper's a big fan of hot sauce.

He even travels with his own personal stash, tucked into the seat pocket in front of him, along with a copy of enRoute magazine and a card describing the safety features of his plane (it's recommended Harper read the card before take off in order to familiarize himself with said safety features.)

James Cudmore

But back to the hot sauce.

Turns out Harper has a little collection of different sauces. Some are hotter, some are milder, some smokier, some less smoky — basically a whole range of piquant delight.

Now, the funny thing about hot sauces is that they are sort of the opposite of bland.

And Harper admits he's kind of a bland guy, running, in some views, a fairly bland campaign. Not that he's not an interesting guy, or that his campaign is boring, just that they're both fairly low-key, and could stand a little spicing up.

So, this hot sauce-liking phenomenon is actually quite an interesting thing. It adds to the growing body of knowledge we now have about Harper. He's:

— A policy wonk.
— A hockey nut.
— A big Leafs fan.
— An avid historian.
— He plays the piano.
— Loves The Beatles.
— Can crack wise with the best of them.
— Does a pretty good imitation of Liberal John McCallum's unique speaking voice.
— Has a newly found appreciation of the virtues of the woolen sweater-vest.
— Was born in Leaside in Toronto, raised in Etobicoke, moved to Edmonton and then to Calgary (what's he running from, anyway?).
— Helps foster stray and unwanted little kitties.
— Likes to spice up his airplane food with hot sauce.

What's his favourite sauce?

"Hard to say," he says, "there are too many."

So, he carries a bunch with him, everywhere he goes.

—James Cudmore