Well maybe not the oldest, but pretty close.
I'm getting involved in politics this week.
(and the price of it has equaled busy-ness to the degree that my blog has been a bit neglected...)
So, this saturday in Vancouver, I'm going to produce/host a two-hour TV special featuring some of the leaders of Canada's major political parties (The Greens have locked, the Liberals and Bloc have expressed strong interest and we're still chasing the PC's and NDP) and all of the main MP candidates for B.C.
The idea is to explore the spirituality of the people, the campaign, and the main issues shaping Canada this time around.
It's an area (the spirituality of it all...) not often well-served.
Our politics tend to get so partisan--Lord knows, I spent much of my youth a near-single-issue-voter--that it's rare to see a discussion that explores the reason/belief that undergirds a policy or an approach to an issue that doesn't devolve into fear-mongering, hate-tactics or some other form of bullheaded silliness.
So, this weekend I'll get a chance to take a stab at it.
We expect to have a thousand people in the room with us and we're hoping for some explosive moments.
The first segment of the special will feature me in one-on-one interview with as many of the leaders as will come, or allow me to visit them this week with a crew, exploring their story, the things they believe about life and how those beliefs impact their approach to politics, democracy and this campaign.
The second segment will be a moderated question and answer segment where the leaders will field questions from average Canadians in the audience then the third segment will see us bid adieu to the leaders and have the local MP candidates from each party join us on-stage for a panel-style debate/discussion followed by Q&A with the audience.
I'm hoping it'll be pretty cool TV.
The special will air nationally on VisionTV on September 26th from 9:00-11:00pm and then repeat on the 28th.
An interesting tidbit for your eyes only is that the Bloc said they'd come but don't have the budget to afford to fly Mr. Duceppe out to Vancouver. How crazy is that? So, we said we'd pay. I'll be interested to see what they say to that.
Secondly, I thought you might want to send me some questions you'd like me to ask the leaders. I'd credit you on the special and you, through me, would get to ask the present and future leaders of the Country the question that's at the heart of the matter from your perspective.
Just thought I'd put it out there.
T
1 comment:
Great idea, hopefully we'll get the show out here in Calgary. I'll be watching with interest. Here's a couple off the top of my dome:
Mr. Dion or respective Liberal MP — The Green Shift seems to be very limited in details and scope. How will this vision be made an affordable option for lower and middle class Canadians to get behind as it is inevitable that the big businesses will simply hike costs to cover their higher taxes.
Mr. Duceppe: The Bloc's essential core is designed around earning Quebec a designation as a sovereign nation, but if the party were to win the election or become the official opposition, even, should the rest of Canadians be worried that their interests won't be protected? For instance Ontario's major industry is in the tank, and they have historically been an economic anchor to the Canadian economy, what can you promise Ontarians that you will do to try to revive manufacturing?
Mr. Layton: You talk about dropping a moratorium on the Oil Sands, but how will you deal with the economic fallout. Any slowdown in industry in the oilsands will have a severe effect on the national economy: it's the only industry that's really lifting up the national economy and it accounts for 25 per cent of the countries major stock exchange (the TSX), so to try and prevent growth there without a plan to pick up the slack doesn't make sense?
Harper/Conservatives: If you win a majority government, what would you like to see change about this country that you were unable to implement within the minority government? Why haven't Canadians seen the tough stance on criminal violence you campaigned on in the last election. With gang violence escalating in every major city across the country shouldn't this be a priority? Are police and law the only answer to this problem or are there social initiatives that can be invested in?
Anyways, I guess I should get back to work now.
Peace homey, P.S. - still waiting for that e-mail to come through:)
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