John Lennard for YLC President

You know, this running-for-President-of-the-Young-Liberals-of-Canada business is quite the experience. There's something thrillingly refreshing about being able to meet new people and try new things.  Just this past weekend, I had two beautiful experiences I'd like to share.

Beautiful thing #1 - Sharing shabbat dinner with the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

On Friday, Michael Ignatieff was the special guest at a shabbat dinner organized by Hillel Montréal.  Michael, as he typically does, spoke genuinely and passionately about Canada, our role in the world as mediators for peace, and the values of sharing and perseverance that mark the Jewish community.  Michael is an honest and thoughtful man whose deep and broad knowledge of the world is unparalleled in Canadian politics.  His speech touched us all, and demonstrated to everyone  why he deserves to be the next Prime Minister of Canada.

I've been to many shabbat dinners before, but this was my first community shabbat in a room of 150 young people.  It's a special experience, being part of a time-honoured tradition with the next generation of Jewish leaders.  I'm glad I attended, and look forward to maintaining close ties with my new friends and Liberal colleagues!

(Kudos to Zach Battat, Samantha Banks and their crews from Hillel Montreal for organizing such a wonderful event! And sorry for the lack of photos... No flash photography during shabbat!)

Beautiful thing #2 - Attending a Punjabi Pub Night with Liberal friends in Brampton

On Saturday, I got together with a group of Young Liberals from the Brampton area for a "Punjabi Pub Night".  Now I've seen my share of pub nights, what with being a law student, an active Young Liberal and a Northern Ontarian (Sudbury Saturday Nights are the best!).  I USED to consider myself an expert, but no more! The Brampton crew does things quite differently! The best part was betting to watch wonderful bhangra and singing performances from a group of high school youth.  Some of them were kind and patient enough to teach Jay and I a few moves... We're still rusty, but I think we got the hang of it!

Ruby, Nav, Andrew, Gurbax: Count yourselves lucky!  Brampton-area Young Liberals are some of the most dedicated and hardworking in the business!

(Thank you to "Team Hansra" and other Young Liberals from Peel region for setting up this event.  I had a blast!)

As I always say, outreach means actually reaching OUT - going beyond our comfort zones to meet with groups and communities we've never met with before.  Traditional Young Liberal events are great, but we need to do more if we're serious about growing this organization and being more inclusive, representative and responsive.  I firmly believe we have to meet young Canadians on their own turf.  I hope my two experiences this weekend proved just that.  As President of the Young Liberals of Canada, you can count on me to continue this level of youth engagement and outreach, because building the YLC is a top priority for me.  So, shalom!  Sat sri akaal!  Let's get on with it!