Today started with a bit of catch up on emails after the weekend, and also to get my Twitter account working with my WordPress site. I’m still trying in vain to submit responses to the Make Poverty History web site. If I hit the deadline and can’t make it work, I’ll have to email my responses.
The CPAC interview today went well. They are doing a profile on what they are calling the “post Belinda riding.” We spent a bit of time filming as I talked to folks in a local coffee shop, and then went for a walk in the Aurora Arboretum for a Q&A session. This was much better than last election, when it was about -10C. They promise to let me know when it will air, though not having TV I’ll have to find a way to see it.
I spent the afternoon going to Crossland Public Elementary School to address what I thought would the the Grade 5 civics class. Turned out to be a full on all-candidates debate with Tim, Lois, Dorian and myself in attendance and it was for the Grade 5 and Grade 8 classes. I was a bit late since I didn’t know that Mollie had an appointment at the same time, and we only have one car.
The kids asked some great questions about the economy, environment, costs of post secondary education, our policy to legalize marijuana, transportation, tax shifting, the whole deal.
Since the format was not made clear, I was not aware of the expectation to make a 5 minute opening statement until asked to do so, so I had to wing it. And this is a synopsis of what I said:
I’m pretty certain that all of you have heard enough and seen enough to know that all of the parties that we four represent have policies on all of the issues, such as the economy, the environment, poverty, health care, education, etc. And I’m sure that we all sound the same when we say that our policies are the best. And the Green Party certainly does have policies on all those issues and I certainly do think they are the best ones.
So I could say pretty much the same thing that you’ve heard before. But rather than bore you, I’m going to use this time to talk instead about something different, something that I’ll bet none of the other candidates here are likely to have said before I arrived.
And then I used the remaining 4 minutes talking about the antiquated First-Past-The-Post system that they are learning about in class, that there are other systems in other countries, and that the Green Party is committed to electoral reform so that by the time they are old enough to vote, their vote will actually mean something.
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Go Glenn Go!
By the way, I am loving the big signs cropping up at intersections.
With you name on them and everything.
Very exciting.
(PS The second paragraph is missing the last line in this post.)
Good job at winging it !
DVD