This week, Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Gerry Ritz is again crisscrossing the world on a trade mission to China.
But two weeks ago, the federal agriculture minister was in no position to go anywhere.
Ritz was confined inside the caucus room at the parliament building in Ottawa for over nine hours as a shooting incident took place in the hallways on Parliament Hill.
"It was a very surreal morning," Ritz said of that Oct. 22 day.
He had spent the day in the government caucus room, he said, "maybe 20 feet away from where all the action was happening in that one corridor."
The day started in a routine manner as Ritz was in Ottawa, having joined the other Conservative MPs and senators for the government's weekly caucus meeting.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was speaking that morning, Ritz said.
"We were in the midst of reviewing what all his workload was, what a lot of us had been doing over the week, how the government was performing on different bills, pieces of legislation. So it was business as usual."
It was at that point that the MPs heard a loud boom.
Initially, Ritz said, the MPs thought the sound was from construction going on in the West Block.
There was one problem, however. The sound was "behind us, not in front of us where West Block is," said Ritz.
"Right away we knew something was up."
Through those early moments, the MP recognized from his hunting experiences that gunfire was involved.
There was "small arms fire, a number of rounds going off. We had no idea of knowing what it was or how many people were in, how big the attack was. It was trying for the first half hour or so."
Through those early moments, the MPs recognized they were "safer in the room. There are people outside the doors who are able to handle these situations."
Eventually the situation in the hallways was brought under control. Ritz noted Kevin Vickers, the sergeant-at-arms hailed for his heroics in shooting the gunman, actually came in to say the "perpetrator that had stormed the building was down, and they were in the process of going room by room, so bear with them, hang on."
Ritz said that interior guards at the House of Commons, backstopped by SWAT teams from the Ottawa City Police and RCMP, were going room by room in the Centre Block.
"If there was a second perpetrator, or third or fourth, no one knew. So it was a matter of making sure everything was secure. So we sat tight."
That process took a long time, given the size of the Parliament building and the maze of offices.
Prime Minister Harper did not stay with them. He had been extricated by the RCMP according to the protocol in place and taken to a secure location elsewhere.
Waiting it out "got to be very trying, as we kept looking at the clock, recognizing the hours are ticking by," said Ritz.
There was "no food, no water," he said. "It was just a matter of biding our time."
His family had been kept informed of the events. Among the first calls Ritz made was to his loved ones at home.
"I woke my family up and told them everything's fine, I'm good. They said 'what do you mean?' I said 'well there's a bit of an attack here at the House of Commons, but everything is secure so if you see it on the news, don't worry about it.'"
With all the mayhem outside, it's hard to imagine any work getting done by MPs in Ottawa that day.
Yet Ritz says that's exactly what happened. A "lot of business was conducted inside the room, in there with 200 of my closest friends and colleagues, House of Commons members and senators," he said.
A number of discussions on issues took place and Ritz said he was able to use his Blackberry and send out inquiries to his staff. His Blackberry eventually ran out of power, but he used others that had power.
"The workload continued, even on that day."
Ritz gave credit to the interior House of Commons guards for their handling of the situation.
"A number of them are trained for that type of thing and that training paid off that day."
In fact, Ritz noted there is a North Battleford connection to Parliament Hill. One of the guards is Lyle Doshen, from the city.
Doshen was in a different part of the complex that day, Ritz noted, so was not in harm's way. But he saw him a couple of days later standing guard at the library and "we had a chat for a few minutes."
The day after the attack on the Hill, it was business as usual in the House of Commons as debates resumed inside the chamber.
"You can't let these things knock you off government work. It has to carry on," Ritz said.
But it was a far more collegial atmosphere in the House on the day after when the Commons reconvened.
"It was quite good to see that. We were all in the same duress on different levels. So it was good to see that happen. But as I said, it's business as usual, the slings and arrows are firing back and forth at QP as they usually do."
The incident in Ottawa, which saw Cpl. Nathan Cirillo killed at the National War Memorial before the shooter entered the Parliament buildings and was killed himself, has prompted thoughts and tributes to the work of armed forces personnel across Canada.
"Our armed forces are second to none," said Ritz, in paying tribute to them.
"Now, it looks like they have more work to do on our home ground. So we'll give them the tools they need and budget they need in order to accomplish this. I'm glowing with Canadian pride in what our police forces and our armed forces do for us, and we'll continue as a government to support them and laud what they do."
Ritz expressed his regret that he would not be able to attend Nov. 11 ceremonies in his constituency this year due to a China tour, but said it was important to recognize "that day, and every day throughout the year, the great job that our armed forces do and our police forces do for us."
The events of Oct. 22 have prompted some to suggest the attack has changed Canada forever.
Ritz said he is not sure about that, but does believe it's a "coming of age."
"We've watched with horror some of the atrocities happening around the world. This brought it right home to Canada."
There had been some debate on whether the shooting ought to be defined as a "terrorist attack" or as simply a criminal act, as NDP leader Thomas Mulcair recently suggested. Ritz does not hold the same view.
"Definitely there is a lot of discussion whether this is a 'terrorist plot' or not under the definition of the Criminal Code. Absolutely it's terrorism when someone attacks their own government; it's treasonous, it's terrorism."
As for how to deal with such activity, Ritz referred to changes already brought in to prevent Canadians fighting for ISIS to re-enter the country. If powers the government has at its disposal need to be strengthened, they will "certainly move legislation forward in that regard, too," said Ritz.
Despite what had gone on in Ottawa, Ritz spoke of a strengthened resolve.
"We've had our nose bloodied, and certainly we're looking forward, not backward. We're seeing what we can do to become a continuing strong force against these types of ISIL, Al-Qaida, and the list just goes on. We're not alone in this, we're not an island, we have to make the changes we need to make sure we continue to be safe."
