Centre Together - An Alberta Party Event

For the past week and a half, I have been waiting impatiently for tonight.  I met a friend in Calgary and we drove down to Hudson's on 12th and 5th for a "Centre Together" event hosted by the Alberta Party.  I've been to Alberta Party events before but this one was different: this event was inviting progressives from the PC Party who felt like they had no home.

A couple of weeks ago at the PC leadership convention I met many progressives from the PC Party.  I also met conservatives.  I didn't expect to run into any of the conservatives at an Alberta Party event (although I did hear that a Kenney delegate from the leadership convention was spotted at the event in Edmonton the night before) but I was excited to see if any of the progressives I met would show.  I already had one of them as my plus one, but would anyone else make an entrance?

I know some people from the Alberta Party but it's hard to know everyone.  My friend is a new Alberta Party member and he knows a lot of people who worked very hard for the PC Party.  With him by my side, I was able to distinguish between members I'd never met before and PC members who were looking to see what Greg Clark and the Alberta Party had to offer.

We mingled with Liberals, former PC supporters and Alberta Party members new and old while waiting for Greg to speak.  The hot topic for everyone was uniting the centre.  Having been so recently immersed in "Unite the Right" conversations, I was pleased to hear something else. Then again, this event was not about uniting parties; it was about uniting like-minded individuals which is what the Alberta Party has always positioned itself as.  My question of the night was whether or not the possibility of a split in the federal conservative party, which Jason Kenney touts as evidence for the success of a united provincial party, would cause greater obstacles than Kenney himself has.

Stephanie Wiebe/CBC

When Greg took the microphone, he did not disappoint. "This is a centrist party.  It is a big tent but it has very strong walls. If you want to roll back LGBTQ rights or women's reproductive rights, you are welcome to have that opinion; and you are welcome to have it somewhere else" he finished to cheers.  He spoke about the opportunity Alberta has, with its well-educated and skilled workforce to be a leader in innovation as we look towards a new era.  He knows the lay of Calgary and what the people here have to offer. He talked about how Albertans already have the necessary education, skills and entrepreneurial drive to be gloabl leaders in the growing alternative energy sector.

One woman, who said she was a liberal supporter and had voted for them in 2015, asked what the biggest difference was between the Liberal party and the Alberta Party.  Unsurprisingly, Greg replied "momentum".  There are a number of similarities between the Alberta Party and the Alberta Liberal party and the PC Party, with fewer, but existing similarities with the Wildrose, NDP and Greens.  Personally, when Greg says "big tent", that's exactly what it means to me.  Greg has always said that good ideas can come from anywhere and shouldn't be ignored based on who has them.  It's reassuring to know there are limits to that "big tent" all the same.

Former PC members said they felt welcomed by the leader and party members.  After what they just went through, I imagine this was much different.  One said it was "refreshing" and another said they felt "excited to be part of building something".  Others were discussing how many people they already knew who planned to run as candidates for the Alberta Party in 2019.

Last year, the Alberta Party events felt like the "the little party that could".  There was still a feeling of satisfaction because the leader had been elected and he was doing a great job in the legislature.  He was making headlines, working overtime to be part of the many committees, submitting shadow budgets... there was a lot of pride emanating from the membership.  Last night, there was still a sense of pride in the air but there was more; drive... optimism... and something else.

Someone once told me the problem with progressives was they didn't get angry.  He said they rationalize information and that tendency keeps them from fueling motivation.  This wasn't what I felt last night.  Something unjust had happened, could happen, and here was a group of people who had lost their party but were welcomed, and interested, in the Alberta Party.

While other leaders are trying to build a big tent with no boundaries, it was refreshing to hear someone who was willing to be clear and uncompromising about his beliefs. We all need something worth fighting for.  Thankfully, you don't have to be angry to do that; just strong.

D

Who Would Give up Their Seat for Jason Kenney?

Will Jason Kenney remain unemployed as PC leader, or will he be fortuitous enough to discover a suddenly vacated riding to run in?  At this moment, we have no vacant ridings in Alberta so if he wants a seat, someone will have to give it up for him.  While there is obviously strong support for Kenney from the Wildrose Camp, I expect it would have far better optics to see a PC MLA to step down.

Global News Photos

The list of current PC MLAs is conveniently short: Wayne Drysdale, Mike Ellis, Prab Gill, Rick Fraser, Ric McIver, Richard Starke, Dave Rodney and Richard Gotfried.  Since Wayne Drysdale and Richard Starke are MLAs outside of Calgary, I highly doubt it will be one of them so we can reduce the possible candidates to six.  Prab Gill was the last MLA elected and he replaced the dearly departed Manmeet Bhullar.  I'm going to remove him as well but not because he was the last one elected; I'll come back to that.  Now we have five.

Ric McIver, as interim leader, had not publicly backed a candidate but he did tweet out a picture of himself and former PC member and Kenney advisor, Alan Hallman, watching the Medicine Hat leadership debate together. The assumption is that he favours Kenney.  Rick Fraser hasn't declared who has his support for the leadership but he has been very quiet both in and out of the legislature.   Dave Rodney, Richard Gotfried, and Mike Ellis have all publicly endorsed Jason Kenney.

Dave Rodney, Calgary-Lougheed was first elected in 2004 and is one of the two longest-serving MLAs in the PC Party right now.  Rick Fraser,Calgary-Southeast, and Ric McIver, Calgary Hays, were both elected in 2012. Mike Ellis, Calgary-West, was elected in 2014 and Richard Gotfried, Calgary Fish Creek, was elected in 2015.  In my opinion, any one of these MLAs would give up their seat for Jason Kenney but in this case, favourability lies in the numbers.

If you paid attention to the number of votes in 2015 (or since), you would notice that pretty much everyone in urban centres had a tight race.  Without bogging this down further, the following MLA's won their ridings by the following number of votes: Gotfried, 129, Fraser 305, Gill, 313, Rodney, 502, McIver 1,533 and Ellis 3,372.

The main reason I discount Gill is because they just had a by-election in Calgary-Greenway in 2016 and the turnout was a dismal 28%.  Gill ended up with 2,292 votes to WRP's 1979, Liberal's 1,849 and the NDP's 1,699.  Say what you will about coming in fourth place but a margin of 593 votes between the first and fourth place candidate is not a cushion I think Kenney would be comfortable with.  Now I don't honestly believe that Kenney is actually using a 1+1=2 formula to figure out where he has the best chance of winning because that's not statistically viable and he, or someone he pays, knows that.

Based on the numbers, Ellis had the strongest margin of support of any of the current MLAs.  He was also the first sitting MLA to endorse Kenney on September 16, 2016.  Most interestingly, Ellis mentioned in his endorsement that Kenney "has always been a leader in our community" (emphasis mine).

Even though Gotfried is the only PC MLA within Kenney's old federal riding of Calgary-Midnapore, Gotfried won by the least amount. That seat had previously belonged to Heather Forsyth, the former PC who crossed over to Wildrose in 2010.  She barely won her seat in 2012 with 38 more votes than the PC candidate.  It's a risk I wouldn't see Kenney taking.

My number one pick, therefore, between the current PC MLA's who would be most likely to give up his seat for Jason Kenney is Mike Ellis.

Note: I've heard through the grapevine that Kenney will not be vying for a seat until 2019.  My thought on that is either he doesn't trust his ability to win until there's a united conservative party for him to run under or he's going to take advantage of being "unemployed" while campaigning for the united party.  Or maybe it's both.

The Final PC Alberta Convention (with Buttons)

I collected every button I could find because I felt this would be the last time they would be made.  In retrospect, I should have taken extras.  I went into the convention without a horse in the race; I was only there as an observer, after all.  I also went to talk politics because I figured there would be one or two people around who would be into that.

Upon my arrival, I went to each of the candidate tables and picked up some swag (buttons) and each one went into my purse.  I knew the Kenney supporters would likely be the majority of attendees and because I love to talk politics, I wanted to have that opportunity by not wearing my views like scarlet letters.  I talked with someone I'd known from another career.  I talked with a young-ish couple who turned out to be Kenney supporters.  I decided I would introduce myself to people I recognized from Twitter and meet some progressives to round out the experience. 

As it turned out, my first instinct about not proclaiming my views with visual aids was correct.  My new acquaintances from Red Deer and I were getting along swimmingly until they saw my pin from Duncan Kinney (which I loved so I put on as soon as he gave it to me and forgot I was wearing it).  The one noticed it and I saw her mouth go "OH".  I ignored that and put my button back into my purse as we headed over to Kenney's party.  The room was huge, the music was loud, the lights were low and it kind of felt like it was the end of the night after a wedding.  I had to make some calls and I wanted to check out the other parties as well so I bailed.

I went up to Byron Nelson's suite and I could hear from the elevators that there were jovial people about.  The atmosphere was extremely upbeat and I talked with a few people and had a beer.  Slight digression here because it needs to be said: domestic drinks were $9 and premiums were $11.  Byron was giving out free beer.  I had a Heineken.  Anyway, I talked with some people, met Byron, got a card or two and made a new acquaintance who was heading to Richard Starke's party.  The atmosphere at Byron's party was super but the room was way too small and all those people gave it a muggy, hot feeling that I was completely overdressed for. 

We arrived at Richard Starke's party and that was a happening place.  The lights were on, there was seating and food (and $9 + drinks) and people were in a great mood.  I also found one of my Twitter buds and we talked politics.  At one point, a guy wearing a Sewer Rat button (I got one later) showed up and started talking with us.  He was happily complaining about the carbon tax and then moved on to talk about how it's a nice idea to go green energy and all "but how are they going to pay for it?!" My cohort said "the carbon tax" just as I coughed out "carbon tax" and we all had a great laugh. This was what I came for: people talking politics without having a conniption.

Kenney supporters were milling about, there were MLAs and campaign gurus and tonnes of volunteers and we all got to talk politics and have some laughs.  Looking back, those pre-vote parties were a celebration of the hard work that had gone into the campaigns.  A feeling of optimism was in the air; anything was possible tomorrow.  Sort of.

Some of us who pay attention to numbers thought the vote would go a certain way.  I have to admit that after I spent time with people from the Starke party, I realized that not everyone thought the outcome was going to be what it was.  Talking with one of the people from Starke's campaign, I asked if there were plans for a post-vote get-together.  She seemed unsure of what I might be referring to and I showed her the invite I had from Duncan for a "wake" that was scheduled at 7:00 the next night. What happened next was when it finally hit me that my disassociation to the outcome had caused me to neglect something very important; the people for whom the outcome really did matter.  She started to cry.  Needless to say, I felt horrible.  And humbled.

In the morning I met up with my new pal from the night before.  The campaigns were busy working on the candidate speeches and I was pretty excited for those.  I had missed them the night before because registration was rather disastrous and I was in line while they were taking place.  I found myself a seat in between a Kenney supporter and two Starke supporters.

The speeches were on point; their last effort at influencing the voters.  Byron still believed in the PC party and respected his fellow candidates.  Starke outlined the numerous embarrassing moments for the Wildrose.  Is that what people wanted from their elected officials, he asked, because that's what they were heading into with a united party.  As he started to list off the bozo eruptions, loud boos came from the back of the room. At first I wasn't sure if they were booing the acts themselves or the fact that he mentioned them.  It turned out to be the latter as, when I finally located the sound, it was coming from a large group holding Kenney signs.


My Starke companions were an elderly couple who scoffed frequently during Kenney's speech.  On the other side of me, the Kenney supporters were just as frequently getting up to clap.  When Kenney spoke again about the success of the united federal party one woman yelled out "but you lost that election!" Not that it matters, apparently.

We had three and a half hours to wait for the voting to take place and the votes to be counted. The candidates were busy with media interviews and I had plenty of time to talk to people.  I discovered there was another layer to the vote that I hadn't really considered: the plan.  Kenney had strong support, obviously, and people who actually want to see him as the leader of the next conservative party.  But one gentleman who left the PC's for the Wildrose a couple of years ago had an interesting story.  He said he was undecided about the leadership of the new party.

Though he was partial to Brian Jean, he felt Jean didn't utilize the media to the full extent he should.  As a delegate, he said he spoke to Kenney and Starke a number of times trying to gauge which would be a better choice for what he was interested in.  Kenney, he said, had explained his unity plan in such a way that this delegate felt it would be most successful.  For starters, the PCs had enough money to pay off the party debt.  According to what he understood, the plan is to fold the PC party and have the sitting MLAs move into the Wildrose.  The Wildrose will then be renamed and rebranded.

I spoke with a number of people while we were waiting for the voting booths to close.  More than one of those people spoke with more passion about the plan put forward than the candidates.  More than one of them said that's what they had voted for.  Starke's plan relegated Wildrose to perpetual opposition and they didn't think Wildrose would go for that.   A vote for Kenney's plan, they said, was not necessarily a vote for Kenney.  Interestingly, there was a lot of talk about the possibility of a "white knight" entering the united party leadership race.

After the vote tally was announced, I saw the couple of Starke supporters I'd sat next to that morning.  They were looking quite dejected and I decided to go tell them what I'd learned from people I'd talked to.  When I told them some were more interested in the plan than the candidate they seemed relieved. She looked up at her husband with what I can only describe as surprised optimism.  They thanked me for telling them and said it gave them some hope.

 Someone asked me why I even cared about this and I decided the reason was fairness.  The Nelson and Starke supporters were trying to keep their party and someone who didn't care about their party in the first place saw an opportunity to force them to give it up.  Yes, this is politics.  The only way forward for a genuine conservative party is to obliterate the baggage from the PC Party and the Wildrose Party.  While it wasn't all bad, a party with no history has no baggage; but I doubt that will last very long.

Go In Peace, PC Party

We are officially less than 12 hours away from the launch of the PC Leadership Convention and excitement is in the air!  To be clear, there's no sense of anticipation regarding the actual leadership vote as there's very little probability that Jason Kenney will not win.  If he's been truthful about the elected delegates being on his team, this is hardly even a contest. What's really exhilarating is that there will be a new race starting on March 19, 2017!  How can we be so lucky to have all of this activity in between election years?!

Strangely enough, the Leadership race has shown us what Albertans and many PC members thought about the party: they're done.  There are a few hangers on; some passionate and dedicated individuals who don't want to see their party dissolved into obscurity and I feel for them.  Ironically, the man who believes everyone has the right to die a slow painful death wants to be the one to remove the PC jugular and save it from such a fate.

The new United Conservative party will be the next big conversation piece in Alberta politics and it will be anything but dull.  Back in Nov - Dec 2016 a poll specifically asked those who favoured a United Conservative party if they would prefer a party led by Brian Jean or Jason Kenney.  Respondents chose Jean.  At that time, Brian Jean was claiming the Wildrose was not interested in joining with the PC party.  Only a mere month later, Jean announced he would step down from the Wildrose and run for leadership of that united party.

Then came a new twist.  A few days ago, another poll claimed that although Jean still held the lead in a race with Kenney he was not the front runner.  With an easy majority of votes, the clear winner to lead a United Conservative party was "I don't know", followed closely by "Someone else".  The publicly interested candidates are third and fourth... out of four possible choices.

Now that's what builds anticipation.  Who could this potential leader be?  People have suggested yet a third CPC MP alternative in Rona Ambrose but she hasn't shown any interest in the role.  Is there another former CPC MP who might be up to the task?  Would the membership even consider someone who wasn't a CPC MP?  Is there someone just biding their time until the united party is created?  The plot is so full of possible twists that whiplash becomes more than a potential side effect.

And that, my friends, will give everyone something to talk about.


D.

The NDP Hits Back and Gets Slapped

Monday's Question Period in the Legislature yielded a surprising statement from the Deputy Premier, Sarah Hoffman, that sparked an immediate backlash and gave rise to a number of interpretations from across the political spectrum.  I had some initial misgivings about searching both "youtube" and "sewer rats" but I wasn't disappointed.  The first offering was a video titled "NDP: You're all sewer rats!".  And that seems like as good a place to start as any.

Remy and Linguine ~ Ratatouille

In case you haven't heard, in response to Jason Nixon (WR - Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre), Sarah Hoffman (ND - Edmonton - Glenora, Alberta Health Minister, Deputy Premier) replied "...while we're focused on hard hats, they're spending time with sewer rats".  Brian Jean took to Twitter to claim this was a direct insult to Albertans and many people agreed with him.

On the other side of the debate was a confident and unapologetic interpretation of "sewer rats" referring to bigots, xenophobes, racists and the like, along with their sympathizers, fans and/or subscribers.  Hoffman has since apologized, saying only that it "certainly did not refer to Albertans".  Was it a dumb comment?  I think so.  Was it as outrageous as some are making it out to be?  Not so much.

I tend to check out Urban Dictionary when I want to know what the cool kids are saying (and I know what I'll get if I use an actual dictionary to find a definition for "sewer rat").  In summary, even Urban Dictionary had an entry for the literal term and none of the definitions seemed to fit either description from the political right or left.  The short list is rat-like features, "greasy, short male", "Ja Rule" (I don't even want to know) "Underground (secretive)" and my personal favourite "A punk ass scrap tryin (sic) to be hard".

Disney's "Ratatouille"

The examples are extraordinarily specific but if I put it all together, I would go with "unsavoury character" which is what a few people were saying at the time.  I, for one, think it relates to last week's Wildrose on Campus dumpster fire.  I have to note that issue itself received zero coverage from the opinion outlets; so much for "we report what the mainstream media won't" except when they want to provide some fuel for fired up ... Wildrosers?

Even though it wasn't quite on the same level as "Feminism is Cancer", the Wildrose corner the market on outrage.  They also corner the market on correct interpretations, apparently.  According to the #ableg feed from Monday night, only Brian Jean and fellow Wildrosers could accurately interpret Hoffman's meaning and all others who attempted were called "mind readers" and "clairvoyants".

The Wildrose blunder had more to do with timing; it was two days before International Women's Day.  Would it have sparked outrage anyway?  Likely.  Would it have been soooooo bad if it happened in April?  Probably not.  I would also recommend taking a look at the Red Pill if you get a chance as it's not about the men's movement that advocates for repeal of rape laws (surprise! That's a thing... a white guy thing).

Do I consider Hoffman's outburst to be worthy of the right wing drama?  Not really.  I highly doubted she was referring to Albertans at the time and I haven't been convinced by the Wildrose or opinion commentators who assert that she was.  All I can say is, if it speaks to you, then maybe you are one.  Wallow in it, whine about it, wear the badge with whatever pride this gives you.  I know she wasn't referring to me.

The Legend of Robert McDavid

Robert McDavid was the supposed Communications Director for the Wildrose on Campus (WROC) at the University of Calgary, according to the executives Keean Bexte and Don MacLeod (who have both since resigned their posts).  On March 6, 2017, an email was circulated inviting members to a screening of "The Red Pill" sponsored in part by the WROC and Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Youth.  The subject line of that email was "Feminism is Cancer", an apparent nod to the "alt-right" poster boy Milo Yiannopolous.  According to Bexte, McDavid was fired after the email went public.

Jason Herring of The Gauntlet took on the task of trying to find McDavid.  WROC executives claimed McDavid was a first-year student in Engineering but the Office of the Registrar at the U of C could not find a student registered under that name.  Herring also tried to reach two McDavid's listed in the public directory but was unsuccessful.  Although no one can seem to find this person, "evidence" of his existence has been popping up in the least surprising places.

On March 8, 2017 Herring again reported on the story.  At that time, he had discovered a Facebook profile for "Robert McDavid" created on March 7, 2017 (since removed for violation of FB community standards).  The above screenshot of an account created this month showed up on Twitter last night.  The two accounts following the egg are an ardent Jason Kenney supporter and an account that performs essentially the same role as the former; disagreeing with, or "fact checking" those who disagree with Kenney.

Bexte was also a Jason Kenney supporting delegate at the upcoming PC Leadership convention.  Bexte... founder of the Wildrose on Campus... was a PC Youth delegate.

Let that simmer amidst the claims of Wildrose members infiltrating the PC Party to elect Jason Kenney...

Is this "just politics"?  Is this the politics our youth are being taught? Modeled?  That it's okay to make false political plays to get what you want and if something goes wrong you just "blame" and "fire" a non-existent member?  Maybe this kid was planning a future in politics.  Tell me, what is school like for him right now?  What does his future hold?

His name is associated with "Feminism is Cancer", "blaming a non-existent staffer" and being asked to resign from a delegate position.  And for what?  If there is someone else behind this little charade, they should be taking full responsibility from this kid because that's what he is: a kid.  A kid whose name, and shame, will not be forgotten in political circles.

D.

Zero Days Without Incident

It was a simple task. Send out an email invite to the screening of a movie that is controversial enough to get their name in the paper and have everyone talking about them. Ideally, they were probably hoping for a censorship backlash that could have resulted in a "free speech" fight with the University. 

That's what could have happened when they hit "send" but it's not what happened. Instead, the Wildrose faction of University of Calgary students found themselves in the centre of another debate; Women's Equality.  While there are numerous ways to get your name in the paper, this is not the favoured route, even for the Wildrose. However, as Derek Fildebrandt so eloquently stated "Hyper-sensitive, politically correct, victim as virtue culture is creating a leadership class of wimps." (Nov 12, 2016).  Though Fildebrandt insists he is not a social conservative, it's the company you keep.

I mean, in 2012 when the Wildrose did not form government after so many polls said they would, many pointed to the "Lake of Fire" story and claimed it contributed to their loss.  In April of 2015, Rick Strankman, MLA for Drumheller-Stettler took some heat for staying out of the kitchen when a "volunteer" circulated an invitation asking attendees to "Bring Your Wife's Pie".

Add to this the new Maxime Bernier meme featuring double-downer Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt and referencing the "red pill" which he circulated yesterday and you have a full-blown blow back. Especially when the tweeter of said meme claims to have no knowledge of the more modern interpretation of "red pill". If a reader is so inclined, they can google it - I won't link to such garbage.

For a political party that has seen their fair (or unfair, if you swing that way) share of controversy since becoming the Wildrose, this doesn't help.  Personally, I don't see this doing any harm to their brand.  This is, after all, their brand.

And if Jason Kenney is successful in winning the PC leadership, dissolving the PC party, getting Wildrose to agree to dissolve their party, and creating a new conservative party, people will forget the Wildrose Party of Alberta ever existed. Which, really, is nothing but beneficial for them in a modern world.

A Quick Word from Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau was in Calgary last night to drum up support for two Liberal candidates, Haley Brown for Calgary-Midnapore (Jason Kenney's riding) and Scott Forsyth for Calgary-Heritage (Stephen Harper's riding), competing in upcoming by-elections.  So far this year, I've attended one Unite Alberta event with Jason Kenney, one Unite the Right event with Derek Fildebrandt, one PC Delegate Selection Meeting (DSM) and now one Liberal campaign launch.  There were some stark differences.

The differences began at the entrance.  Standing in line to register, there were volunteers walking down the lines and confirming registration; with smart phones.  I ended up going to the registration table and was registered with a smart phone as well.  It moved people quickly and probably gave real-time updates to every list.  Talk about efficiency.

There was a bag check and a visual pat-down (I had to open my jacket and to confirm I had no beverages - so they said).  The mood was welcoming and jovial, the latter of which was the only difference.  I have to accept that, since my husband told me, I don't look like a Wildrose supporter and this could account for the looks I got when I attended that event (related, I also recall a media-type video of attendees at Justin Trudeau's town hall in Calgary which said something to the effect of "Do these look like typical Albertans?"; apparently there's some sort of dress code to be Albertan...).

Pop/dance music was playing and it was a very festive atmosphere.  People were laughing, kids were running and playing.  There were so many smart phones in the room even I felt overwhelmed.  It was, by far, the most diverse group of attendees I've seen at these events with the average age in the room somewhere between 38 and 43; which is about a 20 year difference from the Conservative events (as with the Conservative events I'm not considering children in that average).

First on the stage was Kent Hehr who pointed out that Darshan Khag and Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs were also in attendance.  Kent introduced the two candidates, who each gave a brief introduction complete with soundbites who then had the honour of introducing the Prime Minister.

I was early enough at Kenney's event to see him make a grand entrance of handshaking and calling out to people he knew in the audience along the aisle.  He displayed much more energy at that point than he did once he took the podium.  Trudeau was full of energy from the moment he arrived.  "We keep hearing there are no Liberals in Alberta" he shouted "are there any Liberals in Alberta?!" The crowd cheered. "They say there's no Liberals in Calgary! Are there any Liberals in Calgary?!" The crowd cheered again. "Are there any Liberals in this room?!" And the crowd was clapping, cheering and pretty well hyped up.

Trudeau didn't stay on the stage long.  He talked about how many people in Calgary were, for the first time in their lives, out of work and on EI for the first time.  He said the government was working to get people working in Calgary.  "Alberta matters!" He declared, "Calgary matters! Alberta has supported the rest of Canada for so long and I promise that Canada will be there to support you!"

He talked about how we need to get Alberta resources to the coast and how that would be done in environmentally responsible ways.  He brought up the tiredly false claim that the conservatives couldn't get pipelines built.  People cheered. If he wants to keep using that line then he should quantify it with "to the coast" because that is something the conservatives actually didn't do.  However, they did approve one and the one approved by Trudeau has also yet to be built....

His final words were about volunteering for the campaigns and that was that.  His security formed a circle around him as he shook hands with the moving crowd on his way out. There would be no selfies with the PM today, much to my daughter's dismay.