Alberta PC leadership contenders

On Saturday May 27, I attended a volunteer appreciation BBQ for Laurie Hawn, MP for Edmonton-Centre (my riding).

In attendance were four Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta leadership contenders, in order of which I noticed them:

- Mark Norris
- Dave Hancock
- Ted Morton
- "Steady" Ed Stelmach

Not in attendance: Jim Dinning, Lyle Oberg.

Mark Norris and Dave Hancock talked together privately on a couple of occassions. Oooh, I know, really exciting.

Several people I know who are in the various camps said I should meet their guy. "Sure." You think I was going to go up to them myself? Heck no. This is politics, and they are essentially applying for the job of Premier--THEY should come talk to me and engage the voters, not stand around and wait for people to come to them. Then again, this really wasn't their event, it was the volunteers. However, Laurie Hawn did introduce each of them, so more or less in reality, it was a PC shmooze-fest.

So did I actually meet any of them? Yes. Just one. A friend of mine called him over, he rushed over to introduce himself, shake my hand firmly, and he noticed my last name written on my name tag and asked if I had family in Two Hills. I don't, as far as I know. Nonetheless, he was sincere, gave me his card, and said, "Very nice to meet you. We'll talk soon."

As some of you know, I would have been actively supporting Preston Manning for premier if he did run. I've met him personally on several occassions and can tell you, that Mr. Manning is one of the nicest, grateful, and most sincere people I have ever met.

Now this is not an official endorsement, just my humble observations. So here I was standing with another sincere man who's still running for premier of Alberta, Mr. Ed Stelmach.

So here's a heads-up to any of the other camps--instead of getting your team to talk up your candidate, nothing beats one-on-one engagement with the actual candidate. I know you know this, but if this province is to move forward, you can't stand have your candidate stand still.