Halifax Nomination Meeting

I am excited this morning and the sun is shining, but I cannot share a photo of the great light this morning, as my husband/life partner/best friend (pick whatever title you are comfortable with) has taken the camera off with him to Ontario where he is going to work on the campaign of Liam McHugh-Russell in Etobicoke-Lakeshore -- well, in fact he is off to be campaign manager, which he has done before - but this time for our son, who is running against Michael Ignatieff. More on THAT another day.

Today I am excited because I attended the nomination meeting in Halifax last night where three candidates were vying for the nomination to replace Alexa McDonough (like anyone could) . What a great night - there were 800-1000 people in the room. There were over 600 votes cast, and there were three fantastic speeches given.

Alexis MacDonald - the presumed front runner going in - lost in to Megan Leslie. I have to say that, although I was uncertain going in, (I did not know the candidates and I cannot vote in the riding so did not need to have a choice. . .) after the speeches, I was definitely a Megan Leslie fan and supporter, although I was also quite swayed by Irvine Carvery's pitch that he was an "authentic" man of the people, and an African Nova Scotian. . .

All the candidates were amazing. I was so proud to be in the NDP last night - the race seemed to be among those who still were fired up with the issues, and not jaded by the parliamentary process. Some days I am depressed by the state of electoral politics - but really what else is there?

So now, there is the work! Two days in and counting down - - The campaign office for Halifax opens today at noon at Young and Robie in Halifax. There is a lot of work to do - the seat must be held. There is also Peter Stoffer's seat, to hold, and plenty of other seats that we have a potential to take, or to take back like Halifax Dartmouth.

I love the "New Strong" ad, and am glad to see the party coming out swinging. I am thrilled with the candidate in Halifax - Megan Leslie - and lots of other candidates across the country. This election, with weak Liberals, I hope the "strategic voting" (especially in Toronto) might give way to voters, voting their preference, and actually voting for the NDP, and the policies that most Canadians want. This time I hope that the New Democrat's message gets through -- it appears we have enormous support for our policies but many people don't know the NDP stands for - in fact, most average people that oppose the NDP can only talk about taxes and don't understand how much better off they would be. . . with the New Democrats, or how wealth has been transferred from the poor and middle class to the ultra rich over the last 25-30 years (growinggap.ca) so get out there and tell them!