On The Campaign Trail Rails With Elizabeth May
A quaint train station lined with dozens of Green Party signs meant that Simcoe North candidate Valerie Powell’s Green Party media captains, Murray Cleland, Alec Adams, and I finally made it to our destination in Parry Sound. We found ourselves standing among about 100 excited Green Party supporters and reporters eagerly waiting to meet Green Party leader Elizabeth May on her cross-country Whistle Stop Tour.
When a train was spotted rolling down the track, the energy level rose. Reporters pushed one another aside, Green supporters cheered and waved their flags wildly and the train’s conductor waved and swiftly kept rolling along the tracks. It was a cargo train. About three hours, three cargo trains and 10 less people later, May’s train slowly eased its way towards the anxious crowd.
“OK, if not to cheer because she’s finally here at least cheer because this is the right train,” said Parry Sound-Muskoka Green Party candidate Glen Hodgson.
When the train crawled to a stop, doors were pushed open and out stepped passengers who quickly hid their faces and raced away from the attention. The crowd anxiously glanced around at one another, but before all hope was gone Elizabeth May herself stepped off the train and waved at the once again cheering crowd.
Tags: alec, anxious crowd, campaign trail, cheering crowd, cleland, conductor, cross country, energy level, green party, hodgson, muskoka, parry sound, party candidate, party leader, party signs, party supporters, right train, train station, valerie powell, whistle stop