(Kelowna-) MISSION (flyer drop) ACCOMPLISHED

Originally written at 5:00PM on May 11.
 
Tonight, as mothers in Merritt and Kelowna put their children to bed after a wonderful Mother's Day, they'll look around for a relaxing bedside story. If they were one of the more than TWO THOUSAND homes where flyers were dropped this weekend, they will no doubt choose to soothe their children with tales of lower taxes, environmental leadership, and improved access to healthcare. Then they'll wait one year, go to the polls and join millions of fellow British Columbians in choosing the BC Liberals to form the provincial government once more.
 
I'd call that a mission accomplished.
 
Kev

PS - Hey Prince George, you're not the only place with ginormous driveways! Look at the behemoth I had to trudge down to deliver a flyer today...

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Oh Mickey, You're So Fine...

Originally written at 2:00PM on May 11.
 
Despite mind-blowingly short notice and a spectacular lack of details, BC Liberal Party President Mickey Patryluk graciously accepted our offer of lunch this afternoon and sat down to some of Timmy's finest sandwiches with our Road to Victory crew. Our first flyer drop in Kelowna-Mission went well, and we'll set off for one final flyer blitz as soon as we finish chowing down.
 
A big thank-you to the Kelowna-Mission Riding Association, who covered the cost of lunch.
 
Kev

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Snow?!? It's MAY!

Originally written at 10:45AM on May 11.
 
Sometimes, living in the Interior is ridiculous. That photo is not from the February Road to Victory. That's from the drive here. I'd just like to point out that it's MAY.
 
Peter, Andrew and I made it to Kelowna ahead of the Shoolestani family, so Peter and I will figure out flyer dropping routes while Andrew continues his power nap in the back of my van and the Shoolestani's continue their trek through the snow.
 
Kev

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FORE!

Originally written at 8:45PM on May 10.
 
Pardon us if we sound cocky, but our team of BCYL'ers on this Road to Victory trip are a talented bunch. We've got future engineers, we've got budding architects, we've even got an Irish guy. We can drop flyers, we can attach stickers, some of us have mastered tasks such as taking photos and updating the Road To Victory site. But ask us to golf and all hell breaks loose...
 
The golf tournament was quite the adventure - Andrew made a golf cart do things I'd only ever seen in Gone in Sixty Seconds; the Shoolestani's golfed for the first time in their lives, and I had a period of 4 consecutive swings where I made no contact whatsoever with the ball. Despite all this, the good folks of Merritt Golf & Country Club - as well as the Fraser-Nicola Liberals - still fed us a spectacular dinner. Judging by the speed of Peter's rib consumption, I wasn't the only one who thought the meal was awesome...
 
A big thank-you to all those who made Merritt such an enjoyable trip!
 
Kev

PS - Bonus points to anyone who photoshops the picture of Andrew golfing into a swordfight or lightsaber scene. That doesn't even look REMOTELY like a golf club in his hand...

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Making Harry History

Originally written at 12:30PM on May 10.
 
The Fraser-Nicola riding is currently held by an NDPer, Harry Lali. To celebrate the 150th birthday of British Columbia, the local Liberal Riding Association has decided to Make Harry History. This morning - armed with caffeine, sugar, and the skills we honed in kindergarten - the BCYL Road to Victory crew helped the Fraser-Nicola Liberals get one step closer to that goal.
 
After driving the hotel's restaurant into a frenzy at the sight of its first ever group of nine, we made our way to Sanders & Co Contracting where our day's adventures would begin. We were greeted there by the Riding Association... and a huge pile of flyers. In an awesome return to the days of pre-school craft time, all twenty-something of the volunteers in the room grabbed a stack of flyers and a sheet of stickers and got to work putting the local group's information on the flyers. As you can tell from the second photo above, I did next to nothing and watched everyone else work. It was perfect.
 
So, with our flyers all sporting perfectly-attached stickers, we were ready to hit the streets! The huge turnout of local volunteers meant we were able to cover the entire town with BC Liberal brochures. My personal highlight came with a woman who was standing on her porch while I did the neighbour's house:
Woman (excited): Oh, are those the flyers for the soccer camp?
Kevin: It's actually some information from the BC Liberals about what we've achieved in the province, since we're only one year away from the election.
Woman (no longer even remotely excited): Oh. *takes flyer* Okay.
 
Anyway, with the flyer drop finished, the golf tournament is next up!
 
Kev

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And so it begins...

A Lesson in Murphy's Law:
On Tuesday, I cycled from my house to downtown Kelowna in just over half an hour. Today, driving that same route took just over two hours. There were cars everywhere - in trees, perched on fences, poking out of the sewers... Or perhaps I was hallucinating - things like that can happen when you're trapped inside a vehicle for two long, long hours. I resorted to taking pictures of the traffic. Photos of traffic. Thankfully, I made it through without too much mental trauma.
 
Despite the rocky start, it was smooth sailing once I got across the bridge and started on my way to Merritt. After a mercifully traffic-free drive, I checked into the Best Western to discover that I had the largest hotel room on the planet. I'm pretty confident that my van would fit comfortably in here. Unfortunately, the owner requested that I don't test this theory so we'll never know for sure.
 
It looks like we've got a fun weekend ahead of us: Tomorrow morning, we'll be up bright and early to do some door-knocking in Merritt. After convincing the riding to elect a Liberal MLA in May 09, we'll head out to the Merritt Golf & Country Club and spend the rest of the day helping out at a golf tournament being put on by the local Riding Association. Sunday morning, it's off to Kelowna to do some more doorknocking. We'll take a break in the afternoon to have lunch with Mickey Patrluk, President of the BC Liberal party, before returning for one final blast of doorknocking.
 
Check back for updates!
Kev

SUPER SATURDAY!

Tomorrow, BC Young Liberals from all over the province will be participating in Super Saturday - a province-wide door knocking campaign to mark the one-year countdown to the 2009 election!

Visit www.roadtovictory.ca throughout the weekend to see comments and photos from Super Saturdays all around the province!