Wednesday 21 October 2015

Congratulations to our new Prime Minister-designate!

Then PM Trudeau, and his sons – 1981
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Whew, glad that one is over! Look out world, Canada is back! We'll be at the 2015 Summits:
UN Environmental Summit COP 21, Paris; Asia-Pacific Summit (APEC),  Commonwealth Meeting, Malta; G20 Summit, Turkey.

Mr. Trudeau will be sworn in Nov. 4th. A vicious campaign from some, and I'm glad it is over. I have had to 'unfriend' two male acquaintances on Facebook, due to their vitriolic, and vicious hate campaigns against our former PM Harper. It was above and beyond sane. Let's be positive and move into the future.

One journalist of long experience mentioned that a friend in Europe sent him a message, "Welcome back, Canada!"

I have a story about our new PM!

I was a mom of a two-year-old, had just moved to Nepean with my first husband. Caitlin was in day care, which she loved. I would take the bus to uOttawa for my B.Ed. studies. I was a student teacher in 1981. We didn't have any money. Our family had been moved to Ottawa, by Canada Post, for a promotion, I'd just finished
my B.A. in ECE at Ryerson. ECE work in day care didn't pay well. Mortgage rates were 20+% and our mortgage was coming due. My mother-in-law paid for my tuition.

Trudeau sons,  & PM 1979
 I was doing a practicum placement, a stint at the MacSkimming Outdoor Science school. I loved it. We would have to be downtown on OCTranspo for 6:30 a.m., then a school bus would take us student teachers out to the school, east of Ottawa. We were banding birds, doing bird and forest studies, and lots of other activities. I'd be up till midnight preparing lesson plans.

We had heard that Justin Trudeau, son of the current Prime Minister, would be there at MacSkimming. It was, of course, business as usual, however. I had a group of kids, including Jus
tin and their parent volunteers, in the forest. We were doing a tree study: first learning the various trees in the forest, and then doing a scientific study of those we found as we walked 100m in one direction. I set them into smaller groups and sent them off into the forest. Little did I realize that the 'parents' I was sending out were RCMP officers (a man and woman, as I recall) who were charged with guarding the PM's son, Justin. I was so young!

Following his election win the previous day, Liberal Party of Canada Leader Justin Trudeau gives a…
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6 comments:

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Pierre Trudeau is about the only Canadian pollie I could ever name... which means he must have left an impression. If son has half the wit and style, he too will leave his mark. I trust you all will find it positive! YAM xx

William Kendall said...

It feels like a new day.

Red said...

Good story. Yow were trying to give the kid a normal experience.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

New day for Canada! It seems like good news to me , but I empathize with you unfriending FB people because of hatefulness, no matter which end of the political spectrum you fall on. So much disrespectful news and hate ... The bad side of the Internet. I'm sure I'll be unfriending a few during our Election Seaso ( which seems sadly to be n full swing already even though it is over a year away. ). In Florida, at our Senior- oriented RV Park, our west coast liberal leanings put us in a distinct minority.

eileeninmd said...

Congrats to Canada for moving forward! He sounds like a great guy!

Powell River Books said...

Wow, what an interesting experience as a young teacher. The closest I came was having the son of a Board member in my first class, he broke his arm at recess and I didn't catch it. Not such a fond memory. - Margy