“The Inside Scoop”

So I won’t bore you with the details of how it rained here AGAIN today!  Man, it never stops….

Today was an interesting day, in that at lunch time I attended the weekly meeting of the Gravenhurst Rotary Club.  I have been a member for about 11 years now.  The meeting consists of a good lunch down at Regattas' Restaurant on the Gravenhurst Wharf, and usually we have a guest speaker.  Today the Speaker, was our Member of Parliament, The Hon. Tony Clement, Minister of Industry.

 

No, I didn’t take the above picture of Tony today, I picked it up off the internet.  Tony did give a good speech today on all that happened at the G8 Summit that was held in Muskoka last weekend.  Tony was the one, who convinced Prime Minister Harper to select Huntsville as the location for the meeting. 

The meeting in Muskoka went off without a hitch, unlike the G20 in Toronto, and was productive from a meeting point of view.

Tony ended up with the job of being Canada’s official greeter in Huntsville. The meetings were held on the Deerhurst Resort.  The Leaders all landed in Toronto and were then put on a helicopter which landed on the 15th fairway of the golf course.  Tony greeted them all along with other officials and 4 RCMP Officers in uniform.  He was telling us about meeting President Obama and his Wife, Michelle.  He had a chance to talk to them directly, and they indicated they were really impressed with Muskoka.  President Obama told Tony he liked Muskoka so much, maybe they should move the G20 up to Huntsville….but he said maybe he was a bit late in bringing that up…

Here is a file picture of the Leaders walking on the golf course…

Tony also told us a storey of how on the Thursday night of the conference, the President of Russia, decided to jump in one of the Limos with his Aids, and head into Huntsville where they had dinner out! 

Tony also gave a great explanation on how the actual meeting were conducted.  They also have many side meetings with the delegates during the conference.  Canada ended up making a number of deals with China, down at the G20 meetings.  

Tony also talked about Prime Minister Brown from England, who got up on Friday morning bright and early, and went for a jog on the golf course, and then went down and had a dip in Peninsula Lake… I bet that was a bit cool!

On Saturday, when it was time for the Leaders to move to Toronto for the G20 meetings, the Helicopters could not land up at Deerhurst as the Golf Course was way too wet and soggy from the rain.  It is a nice course, I have golfed on it…. They put all the Leaders in limos and drove them down to our Muskoka Airport, where the helicopters were lined up to transport them to Toronto.  During that time, Judy and I were down in Mississauga, so we missed out on all the excitement at Gravenhurst.  

Tony cleared up one thing for me.  On Friday morning, the French President was the only leader who flew into our Muskoka Airport.  I knew something big was going on, as they had the RCMP plane doing circles above keeping an eye on things.  The President drove up to Deerhurst, about 1/2 hour drive in a limo.  Everyone in the KOA knew something was going on that day, as the noise from the Presidential Helicopter was big!

Tony did talk about the violence in Toronto, and how the Police were prepared for just about anything.   The Government knew in advance there was going to be problems, hence the big display of security. 

Anyways, I have rambled on long enough tonight.  It sure was something to see all the security in place, even around Gravenhurst during the Summit. 

Tonight I have tried posting this blog in Windows Live Writer.  Al from the Bayfield Bunch did a big time rant about the problems he is experiencing with this program… so I thought I would try it out…. hopefully it works…

Till tomorrow…..