Yes, Prime Minister

Yesterday, as is my custom for a Thursday, I was out on my bicycle before going to my weekly appointment with the Old Kootz at the Lunar Rogue for lunch. As I was riding up the trail towards the pedestrian overpass, I could see a cluster of people blocking the trail ahead of me. Forced to come to a halt I recognised Justin Trudeau, our ethically challenged Prime Minister in full promise mode, surrounded by the mayor, our local MP, large numbers of camera and microphone wielding media, and a few liberals or persons pausing out of curiosity. As always when you see Prime Ministers out and about, he was discreetly accdompanied by a number of fit looking guys who seemed to have hearing problems, judging by the wires coming out of their ears. The sight took me back some thirty two years.

It was during the planning of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, there was a meeting of the Atlantic Premiers and the then Prime minister Brian Mulroney in Charlottetown. As a flunkey to Richard Hatfield, the then Premier of New Brunswick, I was present for the occasion, and as I was wearing a new suit, had had a recent hair cut, and was well over six feet tall. I was widely assumed by the Prime Minister’s Mounties to be some sort of security for Hatfield. Brian Mulroney was intending to walk from the hotel where he was staying to the meeting in the Prince Edward Island legislature. I was waitingn for Hatfield outside the building when an individual came up and asked if I knew where my man was, I said yes and he then turned to two old ladies, probably ion their eighties who were standing nearby. He told them that the prime Minister would be coming by shortly and asked if they would like to shake hands with him.

Obviously two dear old ladies would make good video coverage for his “streeter”. Their response put paid to that however, they cried “No *******ing way” and fled at speed.