I meant to write this up earlier, but I was hoping to get my photos developed yesterday so I could include them and didn't quite get around to it. Knowing me, it'll probably be a week before I get those photos now, so I'd better just jot my thoughts down now.

First off, I haven't been to any political events in ages, pretty much since my first year of university. Seemed like a really good turnout to me; to the point where it took a bit of jostling around to get through some parts of the crowd (especially the lineup for the food!) and there wasn't enough space to sit down to eat. That's a good sign!

I went alone, since Matt was out of town, and it was actually a good thing since I got a chance to talk to people I probably wouldn't have if I had someone to chat with. I met a nice older couple from up island who I had a good chat with about child care, a pair of ladies from Victoria who I had a nice chat with about Liberal corruption, and a younger guy whose boss had brought him along that didn't know much about politics and seemed rather mistrustful of the MSM. I, of course, took the opportunity to pimp the Blogging Tories.

The formal portion of the evening was pretty short. There was an announcement about Chuck Cadman at the beginning. I took the chance to say a little prayer for him and his family; though I'd never met him, he always seemed like a good guy who was in politics for something that was important to him.

Stephen Harper's speech was great; Ginna has a better run-down of it than I could give. I have to say, I've never seen the anger that the media loves to say Harper has; I certainly see passion, and I see the strength of his convictions and I see someone who wants to make this country a better place for everyone. I find him a very inspiring speaker. Hopefully the memory of that night will help remind me to lighten up when discussing political things and keep it positive. :)

I got a chance to chat with Mr. Harper a little bit before I had to run to the airport to pick up Matt. Harper's aide is a doll; he somehow sensed that I had to leave and got Mr. Harper turned around to chat with me. I mostly just wanted to shake his hand and tell him that I really liked where the party was going with the child care issue, but Mr. Harper took the opportunity to chat me up. He asked what I did and where I was from. Usually when people ask me that, I say, "A little town in southern Alberta called Black Diamond?" because usually no one has any idea where that is. It turns out his wife Laureen is from the next town over, Turner Valley! So he knew exactly where Black Diamond was. That led to a chat about people we knew in the area to see if we knew any of the same people. It was a pretty easy guess for me; Matt's uncle Ken used to be an MP in the area before the rise of the Reform Party, so Mr. Harper knew him. At that point I really had to take off as I didn't want Matt to be sitting and waiting at the airport. Mr. Harper said I should say hello to his wife, but I couldn't see her and I really, really had to go.

It was a great night; meeting Mr. Harper was definitely a highlight for me. He was very personable and the short conversation we had convinced me that all he needs to do to drop the "scary" image is to keep up the good work on the BBQ circuit.

It's going to be a great summer. :)