The Anita Vandenbeld team hit the streets tonight for the first time with Anita as candidate. It was a great experience for everyone involved, with a couple of first time canvassers even, which brought some excitement and energy to the team. Lots of voters appreciated us going and talking to them, and listening to what they had to say. Government needs to listen to its citizens, and the great families of Ottawa West-Nepean deserve an MP who believes in talking with them and exchanging ideas, not acting as a career politician loudspeaker.
For me, the most inspiring part of the evening was talking to a new Canadian who had recently gained his citizenship after immigrating from Eastern Europe, and was very impressed by Anita's background of promoting civic engagement and civic participation around the world, and told us that we would have the honour of being the first candidate he would vote for in Canada. It's that kind of stuff that makes the political grind worthwhile.
We identified some good Liberal support, and more than a few voters who said they didn't vote Liberal last time, but would seriously consider it now that they had met Anita. All in all, a good night canvassing. One poll down, 250 to go.