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
