ward3brighton.ca

I got a call at lunch from Terry Allen, host of Point of View on Eastlink television (channel 10). I will be interviewed by phone on tonight’s show, November 7th, just after 7:00pm. I believe I’ll be asked generally about my experience as a first-time political campaigner.

I’m too busy right now to write much, but I’d just like to express my appreciation to all the residents of Ward 3. I’m looking forward to working on behalf of Brighton. It was a pleasure meeting so many of you, and my only regret is that I underestimated how much time would be required to visit every house in the ward. I simply ran out of door-knocking days, but I estimate I reached about 80% of households in the ward.

When I have time I’d like to catch up on some stories I wanted to share here. Campaign blogging took a backseat occasionally to some of the dozens of other tasks I was juggling throughout the last four weeks.

Thank you!

I had an interesting experience last Friday night with a family of recent Chinese immigrants in the ward. After explaining who I was and why I was there, with my campaign print material as a prop and using rudimentary English and hand gestures, we quickly established the family was ineligible to vote. The youngest daughter seemed to relish the opportunity to practice her English. She managed to convey that she was studying at UPEI. I was introduced to each — the mother and two daughters — and attempted to repeat back to them their very difficult to pronounce names.

Before long I was coaxed into their living room and directed to a fax machine which apparently had confounded them. At this point I wondered if they had really understood everything I had told them. Had they been expecting a fax repair man? After ten minutes of fiddling and referencing the manual, I had setup and tested the fax machine, and trained them in making copies, sending faxes, and phone calls — all amid much giggling and incomprehensible Chinese whispering behind my back.

In the middle of all this I received a call from one of my Handlers. He was quite amused as I explained my predicament as though nobody else was in the room: “I’m standing in a living room full of people who don’t speak English, fixing their fax machine”. Just more smiles, nods, and giggles.

As I left, I was presented, very ceremoniously, with a shiny package of Chinese Wrigley’s chewing gum. The other side of the duplex was occupied by another ineligible-to-vote immigrant family, but their English was excellent and they had no malfunctioning appliances, so I was happy to sit and chat with them in their living room.