It has been quite a week in the Hazeltons with a multitude of things going on. First off there was a great turnout at the South Hazelton Community Association meeting last Monday. It was really nice to have members of the Regional District in attendance and great community support.
Next was the NDP All Candidates debate at the high school on Tuesday night which was both interesting and actually inspiring. The big thing that stood out for me is that all five candidates seem to genuinely respect each other and would unanimously support whichever colleague won the right to lead the party. In fact, in all my years of watching politicians I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like it.
Yet what perhaps changed my view of politics was the closing speech of Nicholas Simons, who has now stepped out of the race. He spoke of an orchestra and compared politics to it. He shared his analogy that the leader, or Prime Minister, is the conductor on stage and his job is to lead the various musicians (politicians) so that together they created a beautiful ballad. He said there are many different instruments who all play a different sound and play their instruments in different ways. He explained that even the group of trumpets played different notes at different speeds and levels but still played together to create a certain sound. Furthermore all the musicians may be playing different notes or the same music at different variables. Now, here comes the best part…. if the conductor is good at his job he can lead all the players and instruments to create a masterpiece while working together as a whole that they play for the audience (the people). He said he hopes that one day the conductor will lead the orchestra in a way that will make the audience happy, and that to me is the epitome of politics. In a perfect world, that song they could potentially play would be incredible. Yet, will we ever hear that sweet music from our politicians? I am not so sure.
Finally, I would like to mention the Regional Science Fair that was held at the high school on the weekend. According to organizers, this was a great year for participation from schools across the region including Smithers, Prince Rupert, Kitimat and Terrace and the projects themselves were diverse and impressive.
More than 24 people turned out to help judge the vast array of projects and listen to the students present their hard work and the result was quite amazing. As a judge for the first time, I was thrilled to see all the projects and learn about the criteria in which projects are both created and then marked on. I must say I was so blown away at the level of many of the students hard work from kindergarten, yes I said kindergarten, to Grade 10. I learned a lot, smiled and felt a sense of awe and even enjoyed some great laughs thanks to the uniqueness and creation of many of the participants. It was a wonderful experience on so many levels and I hope next year, people will come out and get involved or even spend an hour or two checking out the many great projects the students of the northwest create.
Shannon Hurst writes the weekly My Town column.