Mark Eyking and Michael Ignatieff at press conference in Baddeck. Photo : Greg Kolz
AT MCDONALD’S IN ANTIGONISH — It’s September 1st. How did that happen?
After three magnificent days in Nova Scotia, we’re going home, and I’m very, very sad. The drive from Cape Breton feels like the long, lonely bus ride leaving summer camp, but without the bus (the Liberal Express left here on Monday night, to refuel before the next leg of the tour. After Michael Ignatieff’s bus-free journey to NWT, the Liberal Express will be rolling through Northern Ontario next week).
As MPs and Senators enjoyed their three days of meetings at Camp Liberal, nothing appeared to make them as happy as when they were teasing me for becoming irrelevant. It’s not as if Michael Ignatieff needed a speechwriter in the first place, but it took more than 100 off-the-cuff speeches on the Liberal Express to really expose me as a fraud. Politicians and journalists alike rejoiced in reminding me of my redundancy. Hilarious, right?
I won’t be of much more use this fall, either. At the end of today’s caucus meeting, Michael Ignatieff announced a new series of (unscripted!) townhall meetings, in every region of the country. We’re calling them “Open mike.” Some have suggested that we’re deliberately playing on the difference between “Open Mike” Ignatieff and “Closed Steve” Harper. I have no idea where they got that idea.
So if you missed the Liberal Express this summer, stay tuned: we’ll be coming to a community near you this fall.
- A.G.
Adam Goldenberg, Michael Ignatieff’s speechwriter, will be blogging from the Liberal Express (almost) all summer. For up-to-the-minute reports from the bus, follow him on Twitter. Email him at adam@email.liberal.ca.
