Spring is about change, renewal, fresh new growth. A perfect metaphor for this campaign.
A few years ago I was at an event in Vancouver where people were invited to name their favourite season - I was astonished that not everyone picked spring. For us cowboy types, spring is when the year's cycle begins - the grass is green, new calves are born, the colts are fresh and the old horses are limber again, and you get away from the home ranch and back out to cow camp. Couldn't be better than that.
This morning, I had a pleasant interview with a local paper, then a wonderful set of conversations with folks who came by our "official" office opening. One man turned up with a Rhinoceros Party button - I laughed, and remembered the single best plank I ever heard in a campaign platform: when Mr. Trudeau promised to "twin-track" the Canadian National Railway through BC, Richard the Troll went one better. The Rhinos, he promised, would build a railroad all the way to Japan to facilitate Asian trade. They would mine the Rocky Mountains to get the material for the fill - this would unearth a vast trove of valuable minerals that would pay for the railway and at the same time remove an enormous barrier to communication between BC and the rest of the country. Now that's visionary politics, no namby-pamby incrementalism for the Rhinos.
The Rhino button-wearer and I had a good discussion about the relevance of government, the value (or not) of voting, and eventually got on to the environment. He maintained that is was incredibly egotistical for humans to claim that we had the power to disturb a huge system like the biosphere, I maintained that it was incredibly self-centred for the climate change deniers to maintain that their economic interest was more important than the health of the planet, and the old familiar (to me) argument began again. We parted company, me thinking that there was one person who would never support me, and I carried on listening to other visitors and friends.
Then, lo and behold, my climate change discussant turned up again, and made a $400 donation to my campaign. A man who was chatting with me and who had heard us get a bit loud in our argument, said "Wow - imagine what he might have donated if he'd liked you?"
Of course, when one is campaigning one is never supposed to argue, but that doesn't work so well for me. And it turns out that some people are looking for politicians who speak their truth, even when it may cost them a vote.
We had a lovely party at the office, "unveiled" the Kidder Campaign Camper - prizes will be awarded for a better name - and then on to a gathering in Naramata where, among other good people and fine conversation, I met a woman who had known my grandfather Jack Wilson when he was Chief Justice of BC - she told me first that she would vote for me for the DNA - after our talk, she'll be voting for me because of me. And then I met the mother of the man who I hired to be CEO of my governance company, and was able to thank her for her DNA and the fine man who carries it on. She told me that she and her husband were moving from their Naramata home into a facility that would provide better care for them on the last leg of their journey – such fine people are our elders, such a legacy of generosity, tolerance, ethical discipline and joyous effort.
Then back to the campaign office and more work with my dear Allie. We are giving the lie to the old adage about partners working together - it's not recommended that people start a new relationship as candidate and campaign manager. But, after a couple of hours of catching up on messages and volunteer requests and new meetings and visitors' travel schedules, we turned on the CBC and danced for a few minutes in the empty office facing the dark street of a Penticton Saturday night. That's campaigning with the one you love. I recommend it, highly.
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