Why I knock on doors
Election campaigns are nerve wracking, exhilarating, hard work and exhausting. They can be educational, are frequently annoying, and usually costly. They are democracy in action. And knocking on doors is all of that in microcosm. I have been involved in political campaigns of one level or another since my university days, when I ran for a position on the student union executive. My team didn't win, we were accused of illegally distributing literature to residence-students' mailboxes, and we were red baited. But throughout the campaign, I learned how to articulate the issues, speak in large lecture halls, and nab individual students passing in the hallway to talk to them one on one. Alberta: Early 1980s university days Despite our loss, it was all quite good fun, so I next became involved in a provincial campaign. I was just a junior volunteer and spent my time in the candidate's office tidying up, stuffing envelopes (pre-email days) and taking the odd in-coming p...