It has taken me a few days to get around to writing this, but doing 2 courses and having one week off till June has something to do with that. I decided to wait till the dust settled and everyone's emotions and adrenaline has subsided There are things about this agm, that made me have hope, as well as things that totally disappointed me. So I am going to make this easy, call it the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Overall this AGM saw over 600 delegates cast votes. Not quite the 1000 that were expected to be there, but still double the showing of last year. There were 2 teams, the OYL roots (the grassroots team) versus the OYL Beyond (Queens Park Staffers). It was weird seeing all the Queens Park people on the one team surrounded by "new" Liberals, up against all the OYL stalwarts, who I have known since the Leadership race. For the sake of disclosure, I spent my weekend helping out the Roots campaign. I had a great time working with a dedicated group of volunteers. But I missed the event with Dion, and missed the Friday night speakers due to my arrival time.
In closing, I would like to say that I enjoyed my AGM experience, and that I have made many new friends. I hope the new members of the OYL lend their weight to the coming Federal election, and help us deliver the traditional level of seats we get in Ontario. That is the most important part of this AGM, using our campaign skills to bring us the real deal. In the grand scheme of things, Roots and Beyond is irrelevant, and we must defeat the likes of the Tories and the NDP.
The Good,
The OYL Roots team coming together to take 11 of 16 spots on the executive. This sends a real message to both the LPCO, and the OLP.
Shawn Kerr, for being a good sport.
The passing of the 40 day resolution, I hope my posting on this issue made an impact
I have to give credit to Jacob for swinging enough votes his way, from the 40% or so who were undecided in certain votes. Well done!
The opportunity I had to talk about blogging, and network with various important members of the Liberal community. This I found was invaluable and took my mind off the campaign after hours.
Mary-Rose Brown, and Justin Tetrault for handling their defeat with such grace.
The future of the OYL, keep pushing us, keep up the activist work! The future looks bright!
The friends, new and old who I got to hang out with! We should do this more often!
The Bad
The lack of non-roots people at the George Smitherman party, this is the Deputy Premier people! Unfortunately George cancelled at the last minute, due to the terrible weather, but it was good times nonetheless.
The Speeches, No one really struck me as a charismatic public speaker, including both presidential candidates. Maybe I am holding people to too high a standard? (though Chris Drew shined through with his Chris Drew like performance)
The rumors that were spread around, about people, on both sides, and even at parties. I was told an under-aged friend of mine was drunk and about to be arrested, when in fact he was in his hotel room playing poker!
The Ugly
The total lack of networking between the OYL Beyond and OYL Roots teams. I hope the executive can work together better than the supporters. The New Liberals from the Beyond team didn't seem to understand that we are all on the same team. The animosity was a bit too high for certain groups, and spilled over at a party on the Saturday night.
Seriously people, if I write something negative about you, its because of something you did in politics. Not because I think you are a bad person. Liberals aren't bad people, remember that.
I would like to thank certain memebers of the OYL Beyond team for either giving me dirty looks, or ignoring me. I take this as praise, as in your read this, and you loathed it! Thank you so much. I work at a high school, I can handle that.
The Tension, it was never cut during the Saturday or Sunday sessions, it made people feel like enemies, rather than friends.
The weather, I would rather have been skiing that weekend. It really didn't cooperate at all.
The Results
President - Jacob Mksyartinian
Executive Vice President - Kayla Lewis
VP Federal - Elyse Banham
VP Provincial - Joanna Murrell
Treasurer - Ryan Singh
Communications Director - Zac Spicer
Policy Director - Chris Drew
Recruitment Director - Laura Wiesen
Riding Director - Terry Chemij
Student Director - Magda Drobnicki
Regional Coordinators
Toronto - Jonathan Tsao
Central - Jonathan Pinto
South Central - Deep Chawla
Southwest - Mandy Van Waes
Northern - Joey Montpellier
Eastern - Krista Balsom
1 comment:
I was disapointed as well in the George party on saturday, it was a great event, but the fact that parties from one slate were moved up to the same time as this party was a big let down.
Like you said Jamie, this is a high profile Cabinet minister who has been very supportive of OYL, I was embarassed that night to hear that this happened. Hope we can remember there is a world BEYOND oyl.
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