Nothing takes the momentum out of a political campaign like a dead candidate
Campaigning with my son Christopher
on his 12th birthday.
Shea Heights, one of the steepest hills in St. John’s, isn’t the place to lose your brakes.
Especially when you’re in an election.
Nothing takes the momentum out of a political campaign like a dead candidate.
I tagged along with my brother Saturday evening on a late-night sign run as he fastened signs to the guardrail at the end of Linegar Avenue at the intersection of Blackhead Road.
It doesn’t get much steeper than that — unless you’re on a luge track.
When the campaign signs were up my brother pulled his Jeep out from the side of the road, realizing immediately that his bakes were completely gone.
He used his handbrake to stop, and all was good — thank God.
Here the story turns from near disaster to a tale of the wonderful people of Shea Heights.
Multiple people pulled over and offered assistance when they saw the Jeep with its hood up.
One young man, a backyard mechanic, went to his home further up the hill and returned with a flashlight.
He crawled under the Jeep, spotted the problem (a broken brake line), and clamped it.
He then drove my brother’s Jeep to the garage outside his house, and fixed it Sunday evening.
Tell me the people of Shea Heights aren’t wonderful.
Shea Heights may be a part of the greater St. John’s, but it’s a special village unto itself.
•••
Last week I met fisherman Paul Critch, whose 60-foot boat was tied up at Prosser’s Rock boat basin in St. John’s harbour.
Paul, a 5th generation fisherman, said he named his boat the Chelsea and Emily after his two daughters.
Upon the birth of his second daughter, Paul said his father said “Thank God.”
“Thank God” it’s not a boy.
A grandson would have to go into the fishery.
This is what we’ve come to, we’ve hit rock bottom.
The time to rebuild is now.
•••
I canvassed in the Goulds Saturday morning on Della Drive and whom did I run into canvassing on the same street but Conservative candidate Loyola Sullivan.
Sullivan was being followed by Tonda MacCharles, a reporter with the Toronto Star, and Greg Locke, a local photographer/journalist.
I watched as a homeowner went aboard Sullivan.
The man was upset that the federal Conservative government had failed to announce this year’s shrimp quota prior to the May 2nd election.
The word is that the shrimp quota will be cut dramatically.
“You must think people are idiots,” the man said in a raised voice to Sullivan.
The man promised to vote Conservative if the shrimp quota is announced prior to the election.
If not, he’ll vote New Democrat.
Sounds like a guaranteed votes.
•••
Issues in the Goulds include sidewalk clearing, the gun registry (people don’t want it scrapped; in fact, they want loopholes closed), and job security at the Taxation Centre in St. John’s (where productivity is measured solely in “key strokes”).
•••
Quote of the day: “I’m surprised Ed Byrne hasn’t resurfaced.”
A Goulds man commenting on the number of former politicians who have come out of retirement to run for the federal Conservatives.
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