Down on the Corner, out in The Street...

Over the weekend I took part in the New Democrats' province-wide Neighbour to Neighbour canvass. Fixed election dates have changed the dynamic of campaigning in BC, meaning that we have to be on the streets 9 weeks before the election because the Liberals have started to roll out their heavy-duty-feel-good-flying-mountain arsenal of TV ads 9 weeks before the election. Mind you, to a casual observer, getting intense about the election at this point must be like handing out the World Series trophy two weeks into Spring Training.

Nonetheless, I was at Grandview Park along Commercial Drive with (The Unsinkable) Jenny Kwan, the only NDP MLA seeking re-election on May 17. She won Vancouver - Mount Pleasant with over 60% of the vote in 2001, but I was still somewhat anxious to be out there, given the volume of Believe BC/Best Place on Earth/Spirit of 2010 anvils the Liberals have been dropping over the past few months to pummel the public consciousness into submission.

In the course of a few hours Saturday afternoon, my 2003 move to East Vancouver was solidly validated. Just about everyone who came by took the pamphlets, those who didn`t said it was because they already knew they were voting NDP. There were some passers by who were difficult, like the woman who was upset about Carole James "cozying up to business". I spent 13 years in Calgary, where just about any picket or rally I went to was met with admonishments of "f**king socialist" or "get a job" or "go back to Vancouver". Wow - these people got their wish from me on all three counts! If anything, I never thought I'd see the day that someone would be barking me up for being too right wing.

The guy who actually made the afternoon most difficult was either Gordon Campbell, or whoever at head office decided to put Gordon Campbell's photo on the front of the pamphlet with the caption "Can you really trust another four years of Gordon Campbell?" I counted at least 13 people who initially refused to take the pamphlet thinking it was from the Liberals. It got to the point where we started turning pamphlets over or refolding them so it was Carole James' image we were extending to people. It was bright out, but I don't think that was the cause of the squinting - you could almost see the gears turning in people's heads that maybe it's true the party has a new leader, and Glen Clark really has torn up his membership to go sell Jimmy Pattison's used cars!

I know that one can't tell May 17 from February 26, but if one thing is for certain, it's not June 15, 2001. The Liberals might chant "BC's back" but so is the consciousness of a good chunk of the electorate after shaking off their media brainwashing.