So today 5 November is Municipal election day in PEI in the 4 big towns, Charlottetown, Stratford, Cornwall and Summerside. The other places are more resort or settlements with less than 600 people living in any one spot so they simply have assembly meetings and people discuss issues and vote on them.
Charlottetown the Capital has 36,000 people, Summerside 15,000, Stratford 10,000 and Cornwall 6000. In the last 7 days we have had lots of torrential rains and during the past weekend 18 hours of 95 to 130km winds which I am told is hurricane grade, this is what happens here in the Fall and Winter Season, high winds. So canvassing was not possible and many of my electoral campaign signs just vanished or were badly damaged by the wind. What I have learned though is that you only put up your signs in the last 6 days of the campaign, no need for signs prior to that since the most important element is to meet people on their door step and chat. I did that a lot and visited them again reminding them of what we had talked about.
Today I walked around the neighbourhood and met at random people, all told me they had voted for me and why they did. I found that very encouraging, I am hoping for the best. However if I do not win it will not be the end of the world and life goes on, I do have lots of projects and volunteer work and will still keep in touch with what is going on at City Hall, which is not difficult to do in a small town.
Of course now that we are about 7 weeks from XMAS!!!! a lot of fairs and charity events are in full swing. For the Holiday Season there is a lot of food and clothing drives and gift donations for poor children. There is a lot of poverty in PEI but it is often well hidden until like me you start walking the neighbourhood or go out in the small settlements and see how people live. Makes one wonder how they survive in Winter, when the choices between food or heat becomes stark.
One Charity we like to support is called
Christmas Tree Dress Fashion Show Fundraiser
this is part of the Santa’s Angels Charity drive, the idea is to arrange for a $50 Xmas gift for a child who has never had any gifts on Christmas Morning, it also includes food and clothing for a family who are in need.
There are many other such charity events around the Province, Farmers give out 10 pound bags of potatoes, the CBC our National Broadcaster does a turkey drive and each year will collect over 1000 turkeys for families who cannot afford to buy one. There is also a warm clothing drive for adults and for children. Visits to Seniors home and to Hospitals. The idea being not to leave anyone behind or alone.
All of it done by volunteers, hundreds of them, it is quite the operation.
This is the WESTJET Airline entry into the Xmas Tree Fashion Show.
A group photo of the Fashion show, the idea being that each dress would be appropriate for a Xmas Party event.
Yesterday the 4 November around 3pm the small Jewish population of Charlottetown and other residents gathered in front of Founder’s Hall, which is the old Canadian National Railway repair shops now transformed into a market place to commemorate the memory of the 11 victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg last week. A nice quiet service attended by about 100 persons.
This was taken last night 10 November 2017 at the Delta Hotel in Ch’Town at a gala Santa’s Angel Charity event.
