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.
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