Prime Minister Ariella Aitken announces that she's expecting a second childWritten by Ernest Aylmer, VBC Vandenbrink
Prime Minister Aitken at a Progressive party event in late 2016
Vandenbrink - The Prime Minister, Ariella Aitken, announced today that she is expecting a new addition to her family. She announced that she is three months pregnant with her second child, and also announced that she will be going on maternity leave in about 4 months. This will be the first time a Prime Minister has had a child born in office, and it will also mark the first time a Prime Minister will have had to go on maternity leave. She announced that in the coming weeks she will appoint a trusted member of the Progressive party to replace her temporarily as Progressive leader and sit as the Acting Prime Minister, and that the Acting Prime Minister will be consulted and guided by her, so her views will be represented even in her absence. Aitken says that the news of her pregnancy is a "great joy" and a "wondrous blessing", and she also said that "Families are the backbone of this nation, no matter what the composition". Aitken's first child, Veerke, was also born in rather unusual political circumstances, as Aitken found out that she was pregnant about a week after she announced her bid to become Progressive leader, and was born only 5 months after Aitken became Progressive leader. Aitken joked about this sort of situation happening twice, saying that "Becoming a politician has done something to her".