Jack Layton’s NDP Rally, Edmonton

So before I start, let me preface this post with this:

I don’t care who you vote for, all I care about is that you vote.

That said, my family and I struck out for Fort Edmonton on Wednesday night to see Jack Layton rally the voting troops for one last time in Edmonton before the election coming up.

I thought I would share this as a lot of people have probably not attended a rally – if we take any indicators from the low voting numbers- and it’s always interesting to see it from a non-media view.

The media only give you close ups of funny/cute/entertaining happenstances, where as I, dear friends, take pictures of anything that catches my magpie attention briefly.

It was held in the hanger at Fort Edmonton and this was the look of it half an hour before Layton arrived. If was filled to the brim with people right before he started speaking, standing room only and still people were outside as well.

The Princess and I wandered inside, leaving the men to stand near the back of this line in pursuit of hotdogs. This again, is small compared to the line later, they ran out of food. I was told they planned for 1000 people  so the turnout was impressive for a rainy evening if they didn’t have the rations for everyone.

The kids loved waving signs and drinking pop, really, is there anything better on a Wednesday night?

I was impressed at all the children at the rally, there were a lot. I loved wandering around listening to parents talking to their kids about the evening, the passion for knowledge and being informed starts at a young age.

Too bad they can’t vote yet, but I hope along with being of legal drinking age, that one of the things the kids look forward to the most when they are 18  is their right to vote! I voted my first election possible and hope they are as involved as well.

I would have loved to have attended the other candidate’s rallies to listen to them speak,  but Harper only stopped in Beaumont in March and Ignatieff was here on a Saturday night, which of course I worked.

No matter what you vote, I think it’s incredibly important to listen to what all of them have to say, to make a completely informed decision.

And that’s as soapboxy as I am going to get, other than get out and VOTE!

Love,

The Kitchen Magpie