You know you're in Vancouver when...
... You go to an all-candidates debate for the MP position in your riding, and there are four leftist parties represented, including the Marxist-Leninist party. It was a smorgasbord of leftist options. The Conservative didn't bother to show up. Apparently he has been inexplicably absent from all seven debates. The debate was largely a series of people all telling us why we shouldn't vote for Harper. In that they were unanimous - vote for any of us, but NOT for Harper! Since the NDP was incumbent, the Liberal candidate did try to make a few sad little jabs on why you shouldn't vote for NDP, which the candidate countered easily. That's about as cutthroat as it got.
Meanwhile the choices are as follows:
The Green Party candidate, a nervous thirty-something lady who fiddled with her rings and stuttered much the way that I might. First time running for office, also going to college.
The Marxist Leninist candidate, who has been doing this since 1972, and still hasn't learned to keep "um" from coming out every third word or to not run overtime consistently. Sadly, the second best speaker of the bunch.
The Liberal candidate, who was largely unfamiliar with his own party's platform, and had to flip frantically through it whenever he was asked a question. AFTER asking the questioner to elaborate on the situation, which he was generally also unfamiliar with. Also accused the NDP of being "against small business" moments after the NDP candidate had just finished speaking about the ways the NDP's changes would make things easier on businesses. This man seemed completely out of touch both with his own party and basic current events as well as oblivious to current politics in general. I wouldn't vote this man into office, and I'M a Liberal!
...And Peter Julian. The NDP candidate and the incumbent in this riding. With thinning but well cared-for blond hair and an immaculate dark suit, he looked trim, tidy, SHINY next to the other candidates. Like David Hyde Pierce meets Sigfried Farnon. He listened to his rivals and questioners with a keen, attentive gaze and a pleasant smile. When attacks were made on the NDP he just smiled more in wry amusement. Unlike the other candidates, he did not shuffle papers, say "um" or look at notes while he spoke. His thoughts were clear, concise, and convincing. When asked a question, his answer was as brisk and well-rounded as if he had had days to prepare an answer. He was the only candidate gracious enough to thank us for coming out to hear him, or to thank the secondary school that hosted the debate. He was the only one who had any kind of a detailed PLAN for what he wanted to happen in our riding. The others had ideals... well, the Green lady and the Marxist had ideals... the Liberal had a confused gaze. But Peter Julian knew WHAT he wanted to do, and WHY, and he told us so.
I don't like Jack Layton. I think he is sleazy, slimy, and he gets thrown to easily when asked basic questions by the media. But let me tell you, if Peter Julian had been asked what financial experience the NDP have, he could have come up with a smooth, well researched answer, instead of Layton's "uh... well, none of us have been Finance Minister, if that's what you mean, but..."
You should have heard Julian. By the end of the debate, I'm pretty sure we were all convinced that he is the second coming of Jesus or something. A summarized example of the candidates replying to questions:
Question: What is your position on making sure that Autism spectrum disorders get covered by Medicare?
Green Party: They should uh be covered. No one um left behind etc.
Marxist: Share the wealth, women and children and workers blah blah blah...
Liberal: Uh... I don't know. Does any one what the barrier is to covering them? There must be a reason.
Questioner: Money! They'll spend money on cancer kids, but not autistic kids. Are you for it or no?
Liberal: Um... Yes?
Conservative: ... (Not there)
Peter Julian: Actually, I called for it several years ago, when I put forward a petition to Paul Martin's Liberal Party...
Later, after some frantic page flipping, Liberal again: Uh, I should have mentioned that the Liberals want to put forward 9 million dollars towards catastrophic illness drug coverage, so that should, uh, include autism hopefully.
Us: ??
Question: Chunks of Antarctica are falling into the sea. With regard to reducing greenhouse gases, what will each candidate do to revoke the government pledge to spend 3 million dollars on highway expansion, and put it toward transit instead?
Green Party: Totally against the highway expansion. We uh need more transit. In fact, um, let's add another skytrain, k?
Marxist: Share the wealth, workers, women and uh children blah blah blah...
Liberal: REVOKE the highway expansion? Wait, what highway expansion? (people explain) Oh, well, no, I can't support that. Despite all this, uh, fooferah about uh icicles melting and such. A lot of the uh traffic congestion is from uh commercial uh trucks and uh trailers that uh need to reach the uh Pacific Rim so we can uh sell our goods and uh services. So uh we need to uh expand the highway. But more uh transit would be uh good too.
Conservative: ... (Not there)
Peter Julian: Actually, I have been very vocal against the twinning of the Port Mann bridge. First of all, it is a temporary solution. Projections say that the traffic will be just as bad again in 3-5 years, due to growth. Secondly, the increased emissions from the traffic will blow over our riding. Thirdly, it is spending a massive amount of money and it won't even fix the problem. The solution isn't another skytrain either. Expand the skytrain? It's underused as it is. Frankly, and I've been saying it for years, we need ports IN the Fraser River so that our goods and services can be unloaded there, thus reducing the amount of commercial traffic headed downtown! We need to use the rail lines that we already have in place, but barely use...
I still can't support Jack Layton with his stupid little toothbrush mustache and his meaningless smarm. But they say to get rid of Harper, you should vote for the non-Conservative leading candidate in your riding. I don't feel so bad about that now. And if Peter Julian ever runs for Prime Minister, he has my vote.
Hell, his card has BRAIL on it! AND he speaks ASL. Wonder if I could convince him to put a bill through to the government to get them to fund service dog schools?
Benn came home singing to the dog "Mommy's turning NDP, I think she's turning NDP, I really think so..." to the tune of "Turning Japanese".
Meanwhile the choices are as follows:
The Green Party candidate, a nervous thirty-something lady who fiddled with her rings and stuttered much the way that I might. First time running for office, also going to college.
The Marxist Leninist candidate, who has been doing this since 1972, and still hasn't learned to keep "um" from coming out every third word or to not run overtime consistently. Sadly, the second best speaker of the bunch.
The Liberal candidate, who was largely unfamiliar with his own party's platform, and had to flip frantically through it whenever he was asked a question. AFTER asking the questioner to elaborate on the situation, which he was generally also unfamiliar with. Also accused the NDP of being "against small business" moments after the NDP candidate had just finished speaking about the ways the NDP's changes would make things easier on businesses. This man seemed completely out of touch both with his own party and basic current events as well as oblivious to current politics in general. I wouldn't vote this man into office, and I'M a Liberal!
...And Peter Julian. The NDP candidate and the incumbent in this riding. With thinning but well cared-for blond hair and an immaculate dark suit, he looked trim, tidy, SHINY next to the other candidates. Like David Hyde Pierce meets Sigfried Farnon. He listened to his rivals and questioners with a keen, attentive gaze and a pleasant smile. When attacks were made on the NDP he just smiled more in wry amusement. Unlike the other candidates, he did not shuffle papers, say "um" or look at notes while he spoke. His thoughts were clear, concise, and convincing. When asked a question, his answer was as brisk and well-rounded as if he had had days to prepare an answer. He was the only candidate gracious enough to thank us for coming out to hear him, or to thank the secondary school that hosted the debate. He was the only one who had any kind of a detailed PLAN for what he wanted to happen in our riding. The others had ideals... well, the Green lady and the Marxist had ideals... the Liberal had a confused gaze. But Peter Julian knew WHAT he wanted to do, and WHY, and he told us so.
I don't like Jack Layton. I think he is sleazy, slimy, and he gets thrown to easily when asked basic questions by the media. But let me tell you, if Peter Julian had been asked what financial experience the NDP have, he could have come up with a smooth, well researched answer, instead of Layton's "uh... well, none of us have been Finance Minister, if that's what you mean, but..."
You should have heard Julian. By the end of the debate, I'm pretty sure we were all convinced that he is the second coming of Jesus or something. A summarized example of the candidates replying to questions:
Question: What is your position on making sure that Autism spectrum disorders get covered by Medicare?
Green Party: They should uh be covered. No one um left behind etc.
Marxist: Share the wealth, women and children and workers blah blah blah...
Liberal: Uh... I don't know. Does any one what the barrier is to covering them? There must be a reason.
Questioner: Money! They'll spend money on cancer kids, but not autistic kids. Are you for it or no?
Liberal: Um... Yes?
Conservative: ... (Not there)
Peter Julian: Actually, I called for it several years ago, when I put forward a petition to Paul Martin's Liberal Party...
Later, after some frantic page flipping, Liberal again: Uh, I should have mentioned that the Liberals want to put forward 9 million dollars towards catastrophic illness drug coverage, so that should, uh, include autism hopefully.
Us: ??
Question: Chunks of Antarctica are falling into the sea. With regard to reducing greenhouse gases, what will each candidate do to revoke the government pledge to spend 3 million dollars on highway expansion, and put it toward transit instead?
Green Party: Totally against the highway expansion. We uh need more transit. In fact, um, let's add another skytrain, k?
Marxist: Share the wealth, workers, women and uh children blah blah blah...
Liberal: REVOKE the highway expansion? Wait, what highway expansion? (people explain) Oh, well, no, I can't support that. Despite all this, uh, fooferah about uh icicles melting and such. A lot of the uh traffic congestion is from uh commercial uh trucks and uh trailers that uh need to reach the uh Pacific Rim so we can uh sell our goods and uh services. So uh we need to uh expand the highway. But more uh transit would be uh good too.
Conservative: ... (Not there)
Peter Julian: Actually, I have been very vocal against the twinning of the Port Mann bridge. First of all, it is a temporary solution. Projections say that the traffic will be just as bad again in 3-5 years, due to growth. Secondly, the increased emissions from the traffic will blow over our riding. Thirdly, it is spending a massive amount of money and it won't even fix the problem. The solution isn't another skytrain either. Expand the skytrain? It's underused as it is. Frankly, and I've been saying it for years, we need ports IN the Fraser River so that our goods and services can be unloaded there, thus reducing the amount of commercial traffic headed downtown! We need to use the rail lines that we already have in place, but barely use...
I still can't support Jack Layton with his stupid little toothbrush mustache and his meaningless smarm. But they say to get rid of Harper, you should vote for the non-Conservative leading candidate in your riding. I don't feel so bad about that now. And if Peter Julian ever runs for Prime Minister, he has my vote.
Hell, his card has BRAIL on it! AND he speaks ASL. Wonder if I could convince him to put a bill through to the government to get them to fund service dog schools?
Benn came home singing to the dog "Mommy's turning NDP, I think she's turning NDP, I really think so..." to the tune of "Turning Japanese".