Prince Edward Island: Confrontations

If you reread my last couple paragraphs from my Nova Scotia entry, the part about nothing ever happening when I take the photographs, I was entirely correct in saying that I spoke too soon. In fact, it was the next province, Prince Edward Island, that proved me wrong. How's that for foreboding?

To those who have not been to PEI, let me first say that you should put it in your next vacation plans. The dirt is blood red, the grass is emerald green, the sky is baby blue, the beaches are elephant tusk ivory and the ocean is a deep blue. It is possibly one of the most colourful places I have ever been to. PEI is also basically one big farm after another, set on rolling hills with lazy roads and even lazier coves. Everybody should have the chance to see PEI at one point in their lives. So, that's my plug. Tourism PEI, you can make the cheque out to 'John van der Woude.'

Finding the address of PEI's Premier Pat Binns was a relatively simple process. Again, I went straight to the Land Titles office, looked up the name and found the address. Everything was listing not under his name, but under his wife's name, but by now I've made a habit of knowing who the spouse is as well. With the address, I went out to his home which is, not surprisingly, set on a farm. Now, there's always a little bit of panic when I use the Land Titles office for finding addresses that these are not the actual houses that I'm looking for - maybe the premier just owns it but doesn't live there for example. In this case, however, I didn't have to worry.

The official response by PEI to my photographic requests were negative, and I tried doing some follow-up conversations, but it was always turned down quite quickly. So, I knew I wasn't going into a supportive environment when standing in front of the Premier Binns' house with my tripod and camera. Sure enough, after about five minutes and taking the first couple shots, a woman comes out of the house and starts marching up the driveway towards me. I mentioned that this was a house on a farm which, because farmhouses are usually set in quite a ways from the road, had a long driveway. Luckily, this gave me probably about 1 or 2 minutes of madly taking pictures and by the time that I was within earshot of the woman, I had almost a full roll of film.

The woman, who was Mrs Binns, demanded to know what I was doing, at which point I politely introduced myself and shook her hand. The project, if anything, has been a lesson in diplomacy. She was pretty aggressive at first. She already knew who I was and what my project was, and she had already said no to it. I tried to explain that I was not trying to be invasive or attacking the Binns' privacy, but she was still unhappy, causing her to walk away stating 'You'll be hearing from us!'

I managed to keep the conversation going somewhat, even though it was now at a distance of about 20 meters and growing with each passing second as she kept inching down the driveway. I told her as politely as I could that I had already contacted the RCMP and that there was nothing she could legally do about it, which changed her tune a little bit. The conversation pretty much ended with her saying that she just didn't want to see the picture anywhere publicly. I think I had managed to calm her a little bit although she was still displeased about the whole thing. Either way, mission accomplished. 12 for 13.

It was nice to have a little bit of excitement for once, and that I got the chance to meet another wife. That's two I've met so far, and only one premier. Seems like a small percentage considering I'm visiting all of their houses, but that's okay. As long as I get the photograph.