This past week has been an unquestionably active one in the Calgary Liberal community. Many of the leadership candidates were in town for the annual Liberal Stampede breakfast, and, accompanying this, was the customary flurry of activity that one might expect from his campaign team, both on the campaign trail, and, for some of us, Cowboys. (Which is why this post is not up earlier.)
The Stampede breakfast was remarkably well organized and flowed well. Co-chairs Heather Pearcy and Neal Mackie (a balanced pair on candidate support – Mackie for Ignatieff and Pearcy for Dion), managed to organize a event that ran on time, and flowed well. The signature auction also went well, with such items as a signed copy of the Clarity Act and a plush Husky from the Dion Campaign, or some copies of “The Lesser Evil” from the Ignatieff Campaign up on the auction block. For organizing such a smooth flowing event, a highlight of the Calgary Liberal Social Circuit, these co-chairs deserve commendations.
Each of the candidates hat the opportunity to speak for 90 seconds to the crowd. Despite my partisan leanings, I think that Scott Brison gave the best speech there, although Dion didn’t do too badly. Carolyn Bennett gave a nice enough speech, although she seemed somewhat soapboxy, and would do well to cool it a bit. By far the strangest speech was the one given by Michael Ignatieff, who opened with what might be construed as a joke … on Mars. Apparently, the reason the event was held at the zoo was because the politicians were going to be caged and displayed for the ‘edification of children’, and he took special pains to commend his colleagues ‘sartorial’ attire. I was talking about this later that day with an Iggy supporter, and she seemed to think that the way someone spoke was a poor reason to criticize them. Now, that may not be the strongest argument, but I think it is something that we have to consider. This is something that can be overcome with coaching, but when we are in an election scenario, we need to have a leader who is able to genuinely relate to people, not one who talks down to them, or gives that appearance. When Iggy speaks, I frankly feel not like I am being spoken to, but rather spoken at. Iggy needs to relate to the people – he’s not lecturing anymore.
The Hays Breakfast the next day was a fun affair, save for the Sillabub, which apparently contained, among other things, gin, vodka, orange juice, milk, gas, motor oil, Listerine, and many other unspeakable ingredients. Stephane had one, and described it as,
Better than last year.
Aside from France’s undeserved loss to Italy in the World Cup, the rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Apparently Stephane played soccer, and was very disappointed when France lost, especially since they had dominated play. Well, Volpe needs something to be happy about.
Too Much Geography 