Huckleberry Finn, Nenshi and a coffee party

When former Calgary mayoral candidate Naheed Kurban Nenshi began his 2010 race, he was far behind. To narrow the gap between himself and the frontrunner he tried various communication strategies, one of which was an increased use of social media. He also instituted “coffee meetings” for the people who thought only birds tweeted and Facebook was literally a book. These focused gatherings in living rooms and local community centres were a means to meet and have a conversation with Nenshi in flesh and blood.

Ranting against ‘the government’ 

I recently remembered Nenshi’s coffee meetings, since I had been hearing a cynical attitude towards “they” and “the government” among my acquaintances. My mind jumped to Huckleberry Finn’s father – ‘Pap’ – the town drunk who beat his son, illegally confines him and generally abuses Huck. As a result, some sort of custody of Huck is given to Judge Thatcher.   

Drunken Pap comments: “Call this a government! Why, just look at it and see what it’s like. Here’s the law a-standing ready to take a man’s son away from him – a man’s own son, which he has had all the trouble and all the anxiety and all the expense of raising. Yes, just as that man has got that son raised at last, and ready to go to work and begin to do suthin’ for him and give him a rest, the law up and goes for him. And they call that government!”

MP and apple cake 

My wife and I decided we’d try to do what we could to address the negative attitudes towards our government representatives by hosting a coffee party at our home in Quick, B.C. Not for an election strategy, but simply to meet a representative and experience his humanity. 

We invited friends from different age groups and we all shared our own life stories briefly and then Taylor Bachrach, our MP, told us about his childhood in a rural, back-to-the-land, homesteader family. When one of the guests began a strong statement about climate change, I stopped him as gently as I could (even though I agreed with the speaker). Our goal, I had said at the beginning, was to put a face on our elected representative. Not to build up a base of support (a là Mr. Nenshi) but to see that our representatives are real people, with real lives, and who want to know their constituents regardless of political views.  

So we did it: a coffee party with an MP and an apple-sauce cake fresh from the oven. It may not have changed the world but we hope it made praying for those in authority easier. It may someday help our representative, too, in his conversations in Ottawa because he has shared the cake with some of his constituents. He was, sadly, not re-elected and another candidate has become our MP.  We hope – when the new MP’s time permits – to have another meeting. 

We will soon host a coffee party at our small home with our B.C. MLA – Sharon Hartwell – who is from a very different political party. She is eager to come and meet more people in her constituency.   

A small step, perhaps, in working towards respect and peace, perhaps even shalom, in our calling to be part of the community we call Canada.