Conservatives and Liberals, the Blues and the Reds, have been political combatants in this country from the very beginning.  They’ve contested every election ever sense, with the Liberals taking enough of those contests to be regarded at one time as Canada’s “Natural Governing Party.”

When you butt heads that often, over that many years, it’s completely understandable that a natural enmity would emerge between the two, something that leaks right down to the roots, right down into generations of families identifying themselves as being one or the other.  And if they go red, then they hate blue, and if blue, then red.  

It’s one of the reasons why political discussions at dinner parties are a 50-50 proposition. 

I spent a few minutes before starting this trying to think of something good to say about Randy Briand.  It was harder than it may sound, and in the end, I could only really think of one.

I don’t know Randy from a head of lettuce, so in fairness to him, I should make the effort to learn more about him before I weigh-in on whatever it is that he’s all about.  

So I did.

Salt of the earth is Randy.  Born in Petawawa into a military family, he served himself as a weekend-warrior in the Reserves, an infantry officer by his own account.  A school teacher for over thirty years, with a couple of years way up North working with indigenous children before returning home to become an Ottawa Valley farmer.  With a resume like that, what’s not to like, for heaven’s sake?

I don’t know of Randy’s formative years, where he developed his belief system and moral and ethical compass, but he apparently went through a catharsis of some sort when he met Grant Abraham, the leader of the Alberta-based United Party of Canada.  Abraham either solidified Briand’s world-view or he totally knocked it on its ass, but either way, Briand has emerged as whole, a complete man, one who has found himself a home in a new political party when all the others had failed him.