Head Tale

We’re in Weyburn this weekend visiting Shea’s family and had to make a visit to Creelman today since her uncle has just passed away and his wife has asked me to do the eulogy.

Since I was already halfway there, I decided to carry on to Arcola where, in addition to the Cannington NDP AGM, three of the four NDP Leadership candidates would be appearing. (I sometimes feel like I’ve attended as many political events in Weyburn and area as I have in Regina including this memorable moment – make sure you click that last link!)

There are lots of things I could talk about in this post – from how much I love small towns (especially ones I got to work in as part of my work as Branch Supervisor with Southeast Regional Library) to the impact of the resource boom in southeast Saskatchewan to how, between Shea and I, it often feels like we’re pretty much connected to every small town in this area of the province through our family, friends and our work.

But instead, I want to focus on some of my thoughts about the candidates who were at the Cannington AGM. Unfortunately, Cam Broten wasn’t able to make it but it was nice to hear the other three candidates shared a car pool down to Arcola (oh, to be a fly on the wall in that car!) and then to hear them speak in what was, in many ways, a mini-preview of the upcoming Leadership Forums.

It got me thinking about a couple different things. If I had to summarize the candidates in a single word, which word would I pick? And if I had to compare them to a past NDP Leader, who would it be?

Of course, these are only my thoughts and I’m sure many (including the candidates themselves – and even my preferred candidate) might disagree with my characterization. But this is my take…

Cam Broten – (I’ve written before that he’s the candidate I know least about but maybe the word to describe him is “balanced” and the leader he therefore most resembles is Roy Romanow?)

Ryan Meili – Visionary (Tommy Douglas)

Erin Weir – Intelligent (and I mean, like crackling whip smart intelligent) (Allan Blakeney)

Trent Wotherspoon – Friendly (Comparing him to a past leader is a tough one as I can see elements of different past leaders from Lorne Calvert to Dwain Lingenfelter in Trent. Perhaps he’s like this strange amalgam of the two with a dash of Romanow as well?)