Further to my previous post I should say that I enjoyed the BBQ. It appeared the main thrust of the event was to promote Kitchener-Waterloo Candidate Ajmer Mandur but there was solid representation from other local candidates Harold Albrecht and Steven Cage. I was able to talk to the three of them briefly and they all seems liked really nice guys. I had my 15 month daughter there so most of time was spent chasing her around. So sorry to those I didn't get a chance to talk to more.
My local MP Gary Goodyear was responsible for keeping the audience entertained while we waited for MP Harper to arrive. I have come to discover that MP Goodyear is a really good public speaker and I would encourage the party to take advantage of him even more. I have chatted with him several times and he is always very nice. He talked to my wife and I about the Conservatives day care plan, which having two daughters under 6, is of utmost importance to us. MP Goodyear mentioned to us that he ran the math on the Liberal day care plan - it will benefit 100 families in Cambridge. There are 100,000 residents in Cambridge, so this plan is beyond feeble. As I have mentioned before, the Conservative's plan of direct incentives for parents is a winner. They should continue the theme that money should go to the true day care experts, Moms and Dads.
Ajmer Mandur's introduction of MP Stephen Harper was very good as well. But as I mentioned here I was a little distracted so I missed some of it. His Communications Director has promised to post it on the Ajmer Mandur page so I look forward to a refresher.
MP Harper's speech was good. It appears that they have a subtle shift in the focus of the speeches. He mentioned that they are going to be talking less about Liberal corruption, since Canadians are well aware of this. Instead they are focusing on the theme - phony vs. real. Phony being how the Liberals make promises during what looked to be a pre-campaign period and then pull them off the table when their government survived. Expect them to be re-announced in the Winter. This lead him to day care and the phony Red Book promise and the phony nature of it helping very few people. There were also references to the Conservatives plan to increase Military funding and lower taxes. He also repeated the theme that a Conservative government would never bribe the voters of Quebec and call it National Unity. The final theme was a good one. He mentioned that the Liberals try to call Canadian Values Liberal Values but instead they pit region against region, make back room deals with other parties and bribe MPs. He said Canadian Values, such as honesty and integrity, safety and security, entrepreneurship, and family are Conservative Values.
All in all I enjoyed it.
It was also a pleasure to meet some fellow Blogging Tories such as Brendan Jones (thanks for the photo you took of MP Harper and I, it turned out great), Matthew at The Hunter's Blog, Les Mackenzie and (sorry I can't remember your name) The-Comment.
