New Brunswick: Photograph Pending

After leaving the idyllic PEI, it was time to go to the final destination of the trip: New Brunswick. For this one, you need to have some background. After the initial contact with all of the premier's offices back in June, New Brunswick was very aggressively negative to the idea, going to the point where there was a threat to sue if the photograph was taken and/or published. The Premier's Office also said that the wife was very much against the whole project because she was worried about the humbleness of her home in comparison with the home of a premier from a richer province, like Ontario. It was, by far, the strongest 'no' that we received, followed closely by 'it is not possible' British Columbia.

I tried to contact the Premier's Office while I was on my journeys in July as well, in hopes that I would be able to create a conversation between myself and the premier. However, I ended up talking to the same Premier's Office representative that I had threatened to sue. Now, the whole suing thing aside, he was a very nice man. But, he also told me that my assumption that the Premier and his wife knew about the project was incorrect and that he had never told them about it at all. Seemed strange since earlier he had mentioned that the wife was against the project. Hmmmm......

This being the last province in my travels, I have come to realize that there's really nothing legally people can do to stop me from photographing people's houses as long as I'm standing on public property. So, by this point, the threat of getting sued for taking a picture became laughable. I went through the same strategy to photograph the home of New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord as I had done with the previous provinces: Land Titles office to get the address. Easy find.

Usually I do what I call a 'drive-by' before taking the photograph, so I know which way the sun is facing for lighting the house, if there's any unusual difficulties, etc. When I drove by Premier Lord's house, I noticed that there were young kids in the front yard. Being a male, no matter how dashing, pulling out a camera where young children are present is never a good idea. So, after my drive-by, I contacted the local RCMP, in case worried neighbours called the cops, to tell them all about the project and they were completely fine with it. Returning to the house, it turned out that Premier Lord's wife and neighbour were sitting outside on the front stairs. So, I got out of the car and introduced myself.

The response I got was great. When I mentioned my name, she said, 'Oh, I've heard of you. You want to take a picture of my house, right?' Apparently, when the First Minister's conference happen a couple weeks earlier in St John's, Newfoundland, all of the wives were talking about me amongst themselves. That was very impressive to hear. I've apparently created at least a ripple among the highest politicians of Canada. Or at least their wives. Exciting stuff!

Mrs Lord was incredibly nice about the whole thing and didn't seem to mind one bit. So, she sent the kids off down the road to play with the neighbourhoods kids and she went inside while I set up and took the photographs. She was a pleasure to meet and was very positive about the project. At one point while I was photographing, I heard voices from down the road from the kids:

'He's taking a picture of the premier's house.'

'I know the premier.'

'I think I know the premier better than you do!'

Various cajolings ensued. Good times, and a good way to end my travels. 13 for 14.

But, of course, my travels are not quite finished. Another quick trip to Alberta to photograph my final picture, the home of Premier Ralph Klein, probably in mid-September. Also, and the reason for the 'photograph pending' title of this entry is that New Brunswick is actually in the middle of an provincial election campaign, with the voting day set for 18 September. Bernard Lord's PC party is neck-and-neck in the polls with Shawn Graham's Liberal party. If Graham wins, then I probably won't be using Premier Lord's photograph, and I'll have to go back to get Mr Graham's home. If you're curious, yes, I already have his address.

This is it for now, but keep checking back on the blog. Once I get to Alberta and back, I'll be letting you know how it goes. I'm not giving up on going 14 for 14. In fact, I would accept nothing less.