John Horgan was handed a giftwrapped election surprise at a stop in North Burnaby Wednesday.
The B.C. NDP leader was scheduled to speak about housing affordability in front of an Oxford Street house, when more than 50 students from nearby Gilmore Community School dropped by unexpectedly and infused extra life and colour into the photo op.
Horgan stopped to talk to the kids before making his way to the press conference, and the moment looked so perfect it seemed like it must have been choreographed.
But teachers Lucas Anchor and Jason Morton said no.
Anchor said he had found out the time and place of the news conference in the newspaper that morning and the two teachers made an impromptu decision to take their Grade 4, 5 and 6 students to watch.
“I looked at in on the map and it was only a block away,” Anchor told the NOW, “so I thought it was a great opportunity to see democracy in action and for the kids to see the process.”
The political affiliation of the party leader made no difference, Anchor and Morton said.
“If it would have been Christy Clark we would have come too. It truly didn’t matter that it was NDP; we just wanted them to see this process.”
One of Anchor’s Grade 4 students, Angelo Cortese, even shouldered his way into the media scrum and shot a few questions at Horgan.
The NDP leader met with the kids after the press conference and answered questions about topics ranging from housing affordability to the role of the police in Canada.
