the Jackie Washington Award, for his contributions to Northern Ontario's cultural life, by Sudbury's Northern Lights Festival Boréal. The band also released 22 Trailer Park that year. In the summer of 2000, Duffin retired from the band, and Hadley accepted a gig touring with Stompin' Tom Connors. Duffin was replaced by Dave Patterson. Drummer Al Lamore also joined the band. During this era, Angus became involved in political activism in the campaign against the proposal to ship Toronto's garbage to the abandoned Adams Mine in Kirkland Lake. The band released Hanging Songs in 2003. The album included a song about the Adams Mine campaign. Hiatus The following year, Angus ran for the New Democratic Party nomination in Timmins—James Bay; he won the nomination and used his musical background as part of his campaign, most notably performing Stompin' Tom Connors' "The Hockey Song" and Jimmy Cliff's "The Harder They Come" as duets with Jack Layton when Layton made a visit to Timmins. He won the seat in the 2004 election. He kept a previously-booked engagement at the Northern Lights Festival Boréal the following week before the band went on hiatus; however, Angus continued to use music as part of his political career, sometimes performing songs at political rallies and meetings. The band returned to recording in 2011 with a single, "Diamonds in the Snow", recorded with Angus' former L'Étranger bandmate Andrew Cash. Cash was by this time also a Member of Parliament, and he and Angus jointly led a number of NDP caucus singalongs, including "Bud the Spud" upon the death of Stompin' Tom Connors, and "Four Strong Winds" upon the Alberta New Democratic Party's victory in the 2015 Alberta general election. In 2013, the band released the album Great Divide. The song "Four Horses" was influenced by the book Clearing the Plains, and was made into a video with the University of Regina Press. The band have also returned to playing select folk festival dates. In 2021, the band released the album Summer Before the Storm, their first new album in eight years. The lineup saw Angus, Jellard, and Hadley joined by new members Janet Mercier on vocals, Ian McKendry on guitar, and Nathan Mahaffyon drums. Skydiggers vocalist Andy Maize contributes guest vocals on several tracks. Discography 1989: Toute la Gang 1990: One Job Town 1993: Watershed 1996: Waiting for the Cage 1999: 22 Trailer Park 2003: Hanging Songs 2013: