Cumberland–Colchester–Musquodobit Valley must be one of my favourite riding names in the country. It’s up there with Tobique–Mactaquac, Haute Gaspésie–La Mitis–Matane–Matapédia, and B.C.’s own West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea-to-Sky Country, which has the longest moniker in the House of Commons. (I think the shortest is Essex, but I could be wrong.)
Anyway, back to Cumberland–Colchester–Musquodobit Valley. (Seriously, say it ten times fast. Heck, try five.)
We’ve got a great candidate in — three times in one blog post! — Cumberland–Colchester–Musquodobit Valley, Jim Burrows. He was our host today at the Masstown Market in, well, Masstown. He and Michael Ignatieff were greeted by bagpipes and plenty of people, one of whom had strong words for every politician in the place.
I didn’t catch her name, but she was unhappy with politicians who break their promises, and said as much to Michael Ignatieff. (At this point, Stephen Harper would have had the RCMP tackle her to the ground, before speeding away on an ATV.)
“I’ll tell you about politicians who keep their promises,” Michael Ignatieff said. “Lester Pearson promised public healthcare, and he kept his promise. Pierre Trudeau promised a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and he kept his promise.”
He might have continued, but the lady interrupted. She complained that, in her view, Canada lets in too many immigrants, who “get more rights than naturalized [sic] citizens.”
“I’ll tell you something,” Michael replied. “They let in a crazy Russian family called Ignatieff. So there you go.”
So ended one conversation at Masstown Market. There were plenty of others before we got back on the bus, lunch in hand, and set our course for Antigonish.
- 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.
