Chris Pequin for MP SOWK
Conversations at the door…
Politics is mean
A few years ago, a friend of mine, Daryl, was getting more and more involved in politics, and actually joined the local board of one of the federal parties. He had some frustrations with how things were going and thought that rather than complain about how things are all the time, that he would roll up his sleeves and get involved. Months later I asked him how things were going and he replied, “I quit”. When I pressed him as to why, he simply said “politics is mean!”
I think this has been the frustration of many good people that wanted to step up and make a difference. For some reason our society has lost the ability to recognize or accept that not everyone is going to agree with you on everything, and that’s okay. Remember the old saying “Let’s just agree to disagree”, sadly disagreement for some means that their opposition is the enemy. Tolerance in its truest form seems to have died.
People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care….
One of my commitments when I decided to let my name stand as a potential candidate was to spend a significant amount of time knocking doors and listening. I truly want to know what is on the hearts and minds of people in our communities. I’ve done a lot of listening and on three occasions now I’ve had engagements that I think if I hadn’t been committed to listening and real discussion could have just polarised our society even more, instead though I saw a relationship built and a coming together. My most recent experience like this happened this past June in Castlegar. I had a Meet and Greet scheduled for the evening and had a couple of hours in the afternoon. To make it productive, Jarrod (my campaign manager) and I went out knocking doors.
At one home I didn’t have to even knock as there was a gentleman (Grant is his name) sitting out on his front porch having a cold one. I walked up and introduced myself, to hich his response was “ You probably don’t want to waste your time with me, I’ve voted NDP my whole life”. My response was “actually I do want to hear from you, if I become MP someday my job is to do my best to advocate for everyone in the riding not just the folks that voted for me, what’s on your mind?”. Well for 15 minutes we chatted, it was obvious that philosophically there is no way we would see ewye to eye on most things political, but we had a really good conversation. Grant actually said “I really enjoyed this time” to which I asked “Could you do me a favour?” He was curious, so I said “ Would you purchase a Conservative Party Membership?” , “HA, why would I do that?” ,he replied. “Well hear me out, we just had a great conversation. It’s my goal to win the nomination, you could help me do that by buying a membership and showing up on nomination day to vote for me. This doesn’t mean you have to vote for me in the next general election, BUT, if I become your MP, at least you know you have a friend in the office that you can have a civil conversation with”. “Well when you put it that way, give me your brochure, I promise to not throw it away, and I’ll seriously think about that membership thing”. “That’s all I ask, thank you” I replied.
My Conversation with Grant, is just one example of how a listening ear, a willingness to be authentic, and available, can make a real difference in a person’s life even when we might not agree. My mom used to say “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care” I’ve held onto that, it has served me well, and I want to take that approach to politics. I care, I’ll listen.
I think we’ve all heard enough sound bites and talking points over the past several years. Let’s get back to real conversations.
If you would like to start your own conversation with me, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Visit my website, like my facebook page, drop me an email, or give me a call.
Together we can keep Canada prosperous, just, strong and free.
Let’s Chat,
Chris
