5:00pm
As there has been a lull in the action, I’m heading out for drinks with Vincent Robidas, who does French translation for DemocraticSPACE. After that is the Paul Martin tribute at 7:00pm.

10:30pm
I’ve got out of the Paul Martin tribute. It was actually pretty well done and makes you realize that Martin did a lot more than most people give him credit. There was a lot of music — Colin James, Natalie McMaster, a girl from the Northwest Territories (didn’t catch her name), and another woman (again, don’t remember the name) who did a rather entertaining comic opera piece. The emcee was Mark Tewksbury, who kept it light — a curious choice, though. He started off by saying he had something that he had been hiding and needed to get off his chest …. mom, dad… i’m…. a Liberal (of course, everyone thought he would say he’s gay, but he know that already). A curious choice since his French is not good. There were a bunch of recorded tributes to Martin — Kofi Annan, Paul Wolfensohn, etc. They showed a few of the This Hour Has 22 Minutes Martin skits. The room was packed. Martin had a long, but nice speech. It makes you wonder who that guy who was Prime Minister was. Because in person Martin came across as much more genuine and passionate. He emphasized unity (ironic given that he essentially tore the party into two). Now off to the other parties…

12:30am
I must say the weather in Montreal is really bad. It’s been raining all day. And cold. Very un-L.A. like, where it’s sunny and 21C/72F everyday almost. The rain determined which parties I went to, sadly. The Young Liberals were having a party at Metropolis, a club up on Ste Catherine St, a good walk from the Convention. I also recall from when I lived in Montreal that Metropolis was cheesy — if I remember correctly, it was always filled with guys with unbuttoned shirts and lots of chains, and a considerable amount of young girls from the suburbs. I could be wrong. No matter, it will be taken over by the young Liberal folks who yearn for power (sorry, I couldn’t resist… I think that it’s probably healthier not to get into politics when you are 16! live a little first!).

Anyway, Metropolis was too far in the rain. So I dipped into the considerable amount of wasted paper that the campaigns have been handing out and noticed that the Dion campaign was having a party at the Place D’Arms hotel, which was just down the street. So I went there. It was annoying, though. The room was entirely too small. You literally could not move. They gave out tickets for one free drink, and had the usual cheese and veggies — not very inspiring. I didn’t stay long, since it was far too crowded. I dug into my bag of tricks and noticed that the Ignatieff campaign was holding a party in the lobby of the Intercontinental, also nearby.

I remembered from my Montreal days that the lobby was pretty nice, as it had a big black water feature. Sure enough, that was indeed the place. I must say, the Ignatieff party was much better. Very well done. Bravo! Best part … they had Swartz’s smoked meat sandwiches (although it was like chickens at feeding time … there was a moment when the server-dude paused looked around, looked at his cutting partner with fear in his eyes — given that they were literally hand-carving every single sandwich, I can see why — a huge physical effort). But still, a quintessentially Montreal place was brought in, which was great. A little St-Laurent St in the Intercontinental. More impressive still, they have St-Viateur bagels! Swartz’s is a popular place, but St-Viateur bagels are more a Montrealer thing. So, again Bravo for bringing them in! They really are the best bagels you can get. We used to get them all the time when we lived in Montreal — they are in Mile End/north Plateau (we used to live in the southern part of the Plateau). I was grateful for the food, since I realized that I hadn’t really eaten dinner, since I went for drinks instead (a liquid dinner). And there was ample drinks to be had. Too many for some, as I saw one guy try walking down the stairs and he wiped out, taking out a sign on the way down. Time to cut him off! I saw Warren Kinsella there, but didn’t talk to him — as I recall, he was set up in the Intercontinental doing blogging for the National Post. Lots of MPs on hand, but I didn’t see Ignatieff there (maybe he came later?). Anyway, since I was operating on 3 hours sleep, I decided to pack it in relatively early.