Enjoyed taking PM for boat ride

After a day or two of relaxing early last week following a week of fishing hard on Rainy Lake during the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, it seemed like it would be just another stretch of normal summer days.
I was enjoying the quiet time around home when I got a phone call that would turn that week into one I will remember for a long time.
Long-time Kenora Liberal MP Bob Nault contacted me to see if I would willing to take Prime Minister Justin Trudeau out for a quick fishing trip on Lake of the Woods at the end of the week.
Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.
Bob and my dad go way back. They were friends growing up and they played hockey together, so while I hadn’t seen him for several years, we know each other and it was really great to hear from him.
He explained that the prime minister was coming to town and that we would have an hour or so to get out fishing.
The next day, the prime minister’s people contacted me and wanted to go for a ride in my boat to see exactly where we would be going on the lake. While on this ride, I was told that we probably would not be going fishing but that we would go for a ride on the lake.
I said that the fishing is really good on Lake of the Woods right now in an attempt to persuade them to include fishing in the plans, but that a ride still would be fine with me.
It was quite the spectacle to see how much planning goes into the prime minister’s outings. Everything was planned from how I would park the boat, the exact dock I would pull into, and where boats strategically would follow us along the way.
That being said, the RCMP folks who were supervising this trip all were really interesting people that I enjoyed spending some time with. They had some good stories to share during the downtime but then when it was time to work, they were all business.
The half-hour or so that we spent in the boat was pretty interesting–something I will remember for a long time. Prime Minister Trudeau showed up at the dock, helped untie the boat and hopped in, wearing a T-shirt and jeans.
Seemed like a normal guy to me!
We chatted throughout most of the trip, which also included his eight-year-old daughter, Ella-Grace, Bob, and a bodyguard for the PM and his daughter.
I was really impressed with how down-to-earth Mr. Trudeau was and knowledgeable of our area. He told me about how their family spends several weekends each summer at their cottage on the lake, fishing, tubing, and enjoying the outdoors.
He was interested in how I make my living in the outdoor industry, as well as about Lake of the Woods and Kenora. There was nothing political spoken.
After the trip, I posted a few photos on my social media pages. And while the majority of the comments people left were positive, I could not believe that some people left negative comments about our prime minister.
It was disappointing because these messages clearly were not thought out and in poor taste.
I thought it was pretty awesome that the prime minister came to Kenora and spent some time with us and our beautiful lake. There was no political agenda on this trip, he simply was passing through the area and made time to stop and see us.
He posed for photos with hundreds of people on the harbourfront in Kenora.
Regardless, my opinion is that the election is long past and he is the elected leader of our country. Nobody can make everyone happy, but we should consider ourselves lucky to have a prime minister who is as proactive as he is to try and make Canada a good place to live.
He won the election so we should support him.
Getting the opportunity to meet Mr. Trudeau and spend some time with him certainly was an honour for me–and it’s something I will remember for a long time. I really could care less which political party he represents.
A big thanks to Brad Doerksen and WSL Marine in Kenora for lending me a new Lund boat to use to take the prime minister out on Lake of the Woods.
My boat is a fishing machine and not designed to take five people for a ride, so this was very generous of them.