Friday morning was my first introduction to the Young
Liberals. Having very few youth involved in my riding (hoping to help change
this), I hadn’t had any interaction with youth members prior to now, except by
FB or twitter. In fact, I didn’t even know prior to Friday morning, who the YL
Executive was, incoming, or outgoing. What I can say is that there were quite a
few people for the bright and early hour of 8:00 a.m. and they were all pretty
excited which really amped up the energy.
Rob Silver, one of the guest speakers, commonly seen on CBC
Power and Politics, and contributor to the Globe & Mail and MacLeans
magazine, spoke specifically to Young Liberals about how open the party is, and
how much unity he is observing within the party. His comment that for the first
time in 5, 10, years the party was better and there was no better time to be a
young Liberal, was a theme that resonated through the weekend, not just among
young Liberals, but all Liberals.
Premier of Nova Scotia, Stephen MacNeil also spoke to Young
Liberals and was both friendly and engaging.
Having recently won election in October 2013, he told young people a bit
more about himself, including the fact he was the 12th of 17
siblings. He also told a humorous story about how he gets asked whether he ever
tried marijuana, (perhaps more so since its legalization has become a topic of
discussion within the party), and his response is always a no, and have you
seen my family background. MacNeil then proceeded to explain that his mother was
the first female sheriff in Canada. I think that got a chuckle from the room. I
also heard him again later during the Premiers’ Panel.
I confess to enjoying running between sessions, including a
stint listening to Ryan Adams (grassroots organizer for the Obama 2012
campaign, and later, a great session with MPs on committee tactics in
Parliament (a blog on this to come).
The room was packed, and electrified, during Lt. General
(retired) Andrew Leslie’s speech. Again, this will be subject of another blog
post. What I will say is that later in the day, the media was merciless and I
saw him literally being chased out of the convention centre by a gaggle of
cameras and microphones.
The afternoon was also filled with speakers and policy
sessions following which there were speeches by all candidates that were in the
running for National Board of Director positions. There was great energy in the
room, and I have to say that I was blown away by candidate for membership
secretary Leanne Bourassa’s passion and clear desire to assist the party,
welcome new members and reward volunteers in creative ways. Her enthusiasm just
filled the room and set it up nicely for the rest of the candidates which
included Arif Khan, also running for secretary, while Brian Rice and Anna
Gainey were up for President.
The #judyparty, fundraising party for the Judy LaMarsh fund
on behalf of female candidates, was packed. Full of high energy, an appearance
by Trudeau, Rana, the new Manitoba Liberal leader, Deborah Coyne, Premier
Wynne, Premier MacNeil and more. As this party wound up, others began, not the
least of which was the Anna Gainey party which was so packed it had a lineup to
get in for half of the evening. Not to mention the ten people stuck in an
elevator on their way up necessitating a visit by Montreal’s fire department.
Again, another good day at convention, with more reports to
come. Hope and Hard Work!
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