An interesting day . . .

Part of my job involves listening to speeches and meeting well-known people, usually at a news conference. Over the years I have met many, but today, once again, I met the man who is probably my favourite speaker. I did something I’ve never done before. I asked Stephen Lewis to pose for a photo and he was kind enough to do so. I covered Lewis back in the 1970s when he was the firebrand Ontario NDP leader. He remembered and we chatted briefly.

His speeches were so good that he was often written up in TIME magazine. TIME also named him as one of the Top 100 people who shape our lives. In later years he became Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, the deputy director of UNICEF and in recent years, has been suggested for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was in Timmins again today and I was delighted to listen to him for nearly 90 minutes. It’s a good day.