With all this talk of civility and political discourse on #ableg, I feel inspired to share!
A few years ago, I lived in the same building as Jason Nixon in Edmonton. One night, I was in the elevator and he entered. He was very drunk. When he noticed me, he must have realized he didn't look very dignified, and said to me, "Uhh... I'M AN NDP MLA."
He didn't realize I had reason to know him: I grew up in the area he represents. A few months before, he wrote a column in the Eckville Echo railing about out-of-province NDP "mercenaries" ruining Alberta. Who did he single out, by name, as an example?
Me.
In my hometown paper.
Gotta say tho, it was pretty sweet getting angry phone calls to my office telling me to go back to Toronto or the United States or whatever, and getting to chirp back with, "SAY HI TO MY DAD DOWN AT THE CO-OP!"
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I hovered over the tweet button on this thread for a while before sending. I don't want to take away from what happened to McKenna and her staff - actually, I want to add to it. People are expressing shock and anger at the video of someone harassing her staff - and surprise.
Being and working in politics means you are a 24/7 target for some really horrific abuse, and unless you're in it, you don't understand the magnitude of it. And that is somewhat intentional. #cdnpoli
Politicians and political staff know this stuff happens more than people realize. It's not shared often, but that's because if we did share it, it would be all we ever talked about. Instead, we try to mitigate the harassment and endure it.