Camp Wanna Be Free - July 11

It was two years ago that I last had the opportunity to attend the Western Canadian Young Liberal’s summer caucus (affectionately known as “Camp Wanna Be Free” or in times when the Liberals are in government, “Camp Finally Free”). Like then, it was again being hosted in Saskatchewan on the shores of Lake Diefenbaker. And though holding a Young Liberal retreat at a lake named after a Conservative Prime Minister may seem like a strange juxtaposition, it was Ryan Bater who pointed out that the lake would not exist in the first place were it not for Gardiner Dam (named of course for former Saskatchewan Liberal Leader/Premier and long-time federal Agriculture Minister Jimmy Gardiner).

This year, Ryan Bater was invited by the Young Liberals to be their guest speaker on Saturday evening. And though this was an event with liberals from across Western Canada and as far away as Ontario and Quebec, there was a palpable interest by those present to hear about “Prairie Liberalism” and the new direction of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party. In particular, as many of those young liberals who were there are the ones who do so much work in the trenches during campaigns, they were particularly excited to hear about the “Round Our Way” summer tour.

I should also note that Bater’s former life as a bass guitarist in a band during his university days made a brief resurgence after being invited to participate in an impromptu Rock Band competition later in the evening (I was on guitar and he was on vocals). Though we did respectably, we were no match for some of the more expert players in the room!