Met Prime Minister Stephen Harper today. Got to photograph him and the MBOT/BBOT executives in a VIP room. Then was part of the media scrum to photograph/film his speech to the massive luncheon crowd of business leaders.
I’m not a big fan of the dude (I’m a Liberal), but gotta say that in person he was thoughtful, well-spoken and modest, and even had a sense of humour (gasp!).
I was quite busy photographing him during his speech, but I did catch 4 points he made that caught my attention and got lots of applause:
– Canada has the strongest economy and banking sector of any country in the G20
– His government will not put money into building new sports stadiums
– His government wants to make sure more kids get schooling in the arts
– He said “Have you ever gotten into a cab in Canada and it is being driven by a doctor or engineer that emigrated to Canada? That is a waste of training and resources.” He said that he wants to make sure that people with education and skills gained in other countries can put those skills to work here much more than they can now.
I never thought I’d agree with four things that Stephen Harper said, but today proved me wrong!
Take care,
— John
