Convention!
Mar. 23rd, 2012 11:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageIt's been a very long day.
There was no issue with my registration. That was good. I spent a while hanging out on the 700 floor of the south building, where the candidates had their campaign rooms. I talked to some people and met a friend from Ravelry and then headed downstairs to the main convention hall.
Because I was there two hours before kickoff, I got a great seat, front and centre in the the Tom Mulcair section. I saved some seats for other people and knit, and started up conversations with a couple from Alberta (it's not 100% Conservative!) and Manitoba. The two Manitoba people in front of me were Howard Pawley, former NDP premier of Manitoba, and his wife. His wife overheard me mentioning that my family had been with the Salvation Army and that I'd lived in Winnipeg, and she asked me about my time there. She remembers the little girl who gave flowers to the lieutenant-governor of Manitoba at the Salvation Army Centennial Congress in Winnipeg in the fall of 1982! (Hint: that was me.) Or at least, she said she did. I'm sure she remembered the congress but I doubt she really remembered me.
The speeches were interesting. I loved Cullen's, Dewar's, and Ashton's. Mulcair's sounded like he was applying for the job of Prime Minister in a way most of the others didn't. Brian Topp sounded like he was trying to rephrase an attack ad against Mulcair, in such a way as not to set off the NDP's "we must run positive campaigns!" flashing lights. Singh had an awesome video but I was turned off by his desire to pursue God and politics. Even if he's not Christian, I'm not interested in voting for the only openly religious candidate in the lineup.
While waving a sign for Mulcair (as the one I decided to get behind, having accidentally already cast the only vote I'm going to get to cast - I'm going to register a complaint with the party that it was not made clear that an advance vote would mean no vote during the convention) I ran into the couple I'd sat with at Wayne Marston's dinner a few weeks ago. I ended up going out for dinner with Jen while her husband scrutineered the vote. We went to a sushi bar on Simcoe, just south of Roy Thomson Hall, called Fune Sushi Bar. It was excellent and well-priced and I recommend it.
Then we went back for the Jack Layton tribute. That was moving and energizing. If Shirley Douglas is the party's crone, Olivia Chow is its mother figure. I suppose that leaves Niki Ashton as its Maiden. I find it heartening to see how young the caucus is right now. In ten years when we're ready to do this again, we'll have a core of experienced, intelligent, dedicated people who are still well below fifty, and some even well below forty.
I went to the Mulcair hospitality party. It was packed. This probably has something to do with it being held at the Intercontinental instead of the Sheraton. Every delegate had to walk right past the Intercontinental to get to the Sheraton, so I'm sure many people came in who were actually on their way to one of the other parties at the Sheraton. I met some interesting people there, too. Note to self: email Kate from BC.
After that, we walked back to Jen and Rob's condo, and the got me a parking pass so I can park in the visitor's section of their building's lot tomorrow. That cost me $9.50 instead of twenty-something at the South Building.
I have taken ibuprofen, rehydrated, and iced my sore arms. I think it's time to go to bed.
There was no issue with my registration. That was good. I spent a while hanging out on the 700 floor of the south building, where the candidates had their campaign rooms. I talked to some people and met a friend from Ravelry and then headed downstairs to the main convention hall.
Because I was there two hours before kickoff, I got a great seat, front and centre in the the Tom Mulcair section. I saved some seats for other people and knit, and started up conversations with a couple from Alberta (it's not 100% Conservative!) and Manitoba. The two Manitoba people in front of me were Howard Pawley, former NDP premier of Manitoba, and his wife. His wife overheard me mentioning that my family had been with the Salvation Army and that I'd lived in Winnipeg, and she asked me about my time there. She remembers the little girl who gave flowers to the lieutenant-governor of Manitoba at the Salvation Army Centennial Congress in Winnipeg in the fall of 1982! (Hint: that was me.) Or at least, she said she did. I'm sure she remembered the congress but I doubt she really remembered me.
The speeches were interesting. I loved Cullen's, Dewar's, and Ashton's. Mulcair's sounded like he was applying for the job of Prime Minister in a way most of the others didn't. Brian Topp sounded like he was trying to rephrase an attack ad against Mulcair, in such a way as not to set off the NDP's "we must run positive campaigns!" flashing lights. Singh had an awesome video but I was turned off by his desire to pursue God and politics. Even if he's not Christian, I'm not interested in voting for the only openly religious candidate in the lineup.
While waving a sign for Mulcair (as the one I decided to get behind, having accidentally already cast the only vote I'm going to get to cast - I'm going to register a complaint with the party that it was not made clear that an advance vote would mean no vote during the convention) I ran into the couple I'd sat with at Wayne Marston's dinner a few weeks ago. I ended up going out for dinner with Jen while her husband scrutineered the vote. We went to a sushi bar on Simcoe, just south of Roy Thomson Hall, called Fune Sushi Bar. It was excellent and well-priced and I recommend it.
Then we went back for the Jack Layton tribute. That was moving and energizing. If Shirley Douglas is the party's crone, Olivia Chow is its mother figure. I suppose that leaves Niki Ashton as its Maiden. I find it heartening to see how young the caucus is right now. In ten years when we're ready to do this again, we'll have a core of experienced, intelligent, dedicated people who are still well below fifty, and some even well below forty.
I went to the Mulcair hospitality party. It was packed. This probably has something to do with it being held at the Intercontinental instead of the Sheraton. Every delegate had to walk right past the Intercontinental to get to the Sheraton, so I'm sure many people came in who were actually on their way to one of the other parties at the Sheraton. I met some interesting people there, too. Note to self: email Kate from BC.
After that, we walked back to Jen and Rob's condo, and the got me a parking pass so I can park in the visitor's section of their building's lot tomorrow. That cost me $9.50 instead of twenty-something at the South Building.
I have taken ibuprofen, rehydrated, and iced my sore arms. I think it's time to go to bed.