Michael Ignatieff and St. Boniface candidate Raymond Simard at the Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Photo : Joyce Mazur
We’re at the Festival du Voyageur opening night in St. Boniface as day one of the Working Families Tour wraps up in the Winnipeg area.
I’ve definitely got my long johns on. Its twenty below on a bright moonlit night and the crowds are streaming through the old North West fur trading fort towards the music and beer tents.
Photo : Joyce Mazur
I’m with Raymond Simard, my colleague, friend and next MP for St. Boniface. He looks good in his fur hat, Hudson Bay wool coat and Métis sash. I don’t know how I look in my big red Voyageur coat but I’m proud to be wearing my Métis sash, given to me by the Métis nation.
In the beer tents I stick with a beer but Raymond insists on a Caribou — a mulled wine that you drink in a big ice cube. It warms Raymond up in an instant. The fiddle music starts up on stage and soon we are clapping our hands and stamping our feet.
If you want to feel the spirit of les Franco-Manitobains and les Voyageurs you had better get out to the festival. It’s on for another week.
- Michael
You can follow Michael Ignatieff on Twitter at @M_Ignatieff or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/michaelignatieff.
