Since the Trump show is every night this week, I’m reminded of the curious time he came to NB, and what role public $ MAY have played in this misadventure. Sit back, relax, and follow this #portcityDonald yarn. We’ll start by stating the obvious: there is ALWAYS a tweet. 
That’s right. For those of you too young to remember, The Donald once came to SJ, and you could have heard #portcityDonald blather on for the low low price of oh, say $200 bucks or so
theindependent.ca/2011/04/07/dan…
theindependent.ca/2011/04/07/dan…
Anyhoo, the arrival of the Donald was, for some, pretty heady stuff, and had been breathlessly promoted for months by a young kid named Brad Leblanc and his company, The Momentum Group @gainmomentum . Here he is pushing tix in this old youtube clip
Even the public broadcaster got involved in the marketing hoopla - here is @harryforestell intrvuing the Donald, in what could hardly be described as his toughest interview (no mention of Birtherism, for example)
cbc.ca/player/play/21…
cbc.ca/player/play/21…
I mention Birtherism because anyone paying attention back in 2011 knew that Trump was likely some sort of canival barker, and racist to boot. He was promoting all sorts of junk about Obama months before he was to arrive in NB.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
And it’s not like Birtherism was Trump’s only horrid controversy - remember the Central Park 5? Alas, far too many in NB were simply enthusiastic about the idea that some famous person noticed us. Here’s gushing about Donald being ‘a rare treat’ from GNB’s official tourism feed:
Oh, and here is the province’s key econ dvpmt agency, Opportunities NB, suggesting that a schmuck who had bankrupted a gaudy casino was some sort of ‘class act’
Why do I know so many deets about #portcityDonald ? Well, like a whole lot others who were too cheap/couldn’t be bothered to attend I somehow managed to receive a free ticket anyway
The Oct 2011 Harbour Station event, which included warm-up talks by Danny Williams and Rudy Guliani, was rather empty while I was there. Not quite Tulsa rally empty, but not tht full either. Yet, even if it didn’t sell out, it was oddly declared a success cbc.ca/news/canada/ne…
The other things I noticed? In the audience were lots of students. Like A LOT of students, and I instantly doubted if any had paid for their tickets. And there were lots of politicians.
Politicians were courted from the start for all the networking lulz if nothing else. Mayors were sent invites, and the promo youtube vid talked about ‘high net worth individuals’, ‘political delegates’, ‘millionaires’ all coming to #sparknb. Was like reading Art of the Deal!
The Donald was predictably a blowhard while in SJ, although he did allow for his hair (toupee? combover? to get touched). Students left the event learning how you ‘should screw people over’. Good times.
All harmless fun, right? Heck, I even sent out a #FF after I scored my free ticket. Still, given that the arena was maybe half-full, and #portcityDonald got paid (he showed up, obv), I wondered, who actually paid for all this?
Predictably, there were lots of local sponsors, as the organizers had spent months promoting the event. But wait, in the @gainmomentum promotional youtube vid, there is mention of the Enterprise Network as a sponsor, and in NB those are essentially the local econ dvpmt agencies
Sure enough, GNB public accounts for fiscal yr 2011 shows that the Momentum Group ended up getting over $29K in provincial $$. Now, we don’t know if this money was used to help lure The Donald, or for some other event. Still, it’s worth exploring further
www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gn…
www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gn…
Let’s just argue that at least some provincial $ may have indirectly supported the Donald back in 2011, as the organizer of said event was found in public accounts. Who signed off on it? And did any MLAs (some of whom are up for re-election) see it as problematic?
I only ask this because $29K may not seem like a lot - I think GNB’s budget is around 9B - yet there is an opportunity cost with every gov’t expenditure. That money could have been spent on housing, transit, tax cuts, etc. Econ101 teaches us that our $$ choices matter
As for @gainmomentum , it didn’t seem to have that much momentum after all, at least after the Donald came to town. Another big name event was organized in 2012, but GNB court records seem to suggest the company ultimately became mired in unpaid bills.
www1.gnb.ca/nota/Results.a…
www1.gnb.ca/nota/Results.a…
According to Royal Gazette, the events company appeared to have dissolved in 2012. gnb.ca/0062/gazette/r…
My yarn is almost over, and I wish I had explored it further when I wrote at @TJProvincial . I had pitched it to different editors over the years, but given the grim econ of newsrooms, I never found the time to do the proper research. I did find time for my food column tho
If you’re a young reporter, feel free to further explore the #portcityDonald saga, and buy me a beer if you turn up anything.
And if you’re a voter, ask your candidate if they’d support The Donald today. Alas, at Harbour Station in 2011, far too many in NB’s political class (from all parties) did . From the Bricklin onward, we seem to often fall for a huckster. I wish that wasn’t the case, but🤷♂️ -30-
