Debt Clock Tour 0 The National Debt Clock on it's way to Victoria, BC 17-FEB-2011 17:34:54 0 Launch in Victoria, BC 22-FEB-2011 09:30:00 We launched our National Debt Clock Tour in Victoria, BC with a press conference at the Harbour Towers hotel before officially starting the tour from Mile 0 of the Trans Canada Highway. We spent a bit of time at Mile 0 so media could take pictures and video of the clock rolling by, but best of all, a pedestrian walked over to us announcing that he was just searching for information on Canada's national debt on his iPhone when lo-and-behold, there was the clock right behind him. We asked him for a photo and he happily obliged, empty wallet and all. 0 Pit-stop in Duncan, BC 22-FEB-2011 14:00:15 On our way up island, we called the Duncan Cowichan News Leader. Stopped in a parking lot by the side of the road and pulled up beside the Vancouver Island Event Catering wagon. Azam, the owner, came over for a photo. "It scares the heck out of you… it's a real sorry state of affairs," he said to us as we discussed how much his child already owes in federal debt: $16,500 Krista Siefken, the reporter, arrived to take some photos and ask us a few questions. After, Gregory sampled a jalapeno and blue cheese burger, and Azam gave us some delicious pakora for the road. Thanks, Azam! We also couldn't resist driving by The Cowichan Community Centre in Duncan to see the largest hockey stick and puck in the world. That thing is 205 feet long and weighs 61,000 pounds. We couldn't even fit it into the photograph without losing clear sight of our vehicle. 0 Taking the ferry to Vancouver 22-FEB-2011 16:00:03 We made it to Departure Bay in time to get on the 5:00 PM ferry sailing. Chris Koehn from the Nanaimo Daily News met us just before we drove through for photos and a few questions. 0 BC provincial debt press conference 23-FEB-2011 10:00:05 Our morning press conference at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre drew attention to the provincial debt amassing in British Columbia, and Christy Clark, one of the leadership candidates for the BC Liberals, attended and commented that "we need to get this clock spinning in the right direction," a.k.a, the other way. It was refreshing to hear those words come out of the mouth of someone who may well be Premier as of Saturday 0 Surrey Board of Trade luncheon with Colin Hansen 23-FEB-2011 12:30:49 Next we went to the Surrey Board of Trade Post-Budget luncheon with guest Colin Hansen, BC Minister of Finance. We rolled the clock into the room and put up the federal debt numbers. Mr. Hansen commented on the debt clock during his presentation, saying "it is scheduled to eventually arrive in Ottawa prior to this year's federal budget at the end of March. So that will be a very not-so-subtle reminder of what is happening with our fiscal situation." You got that right, Mr. Hansen! Special thanks to the Surrey Board of Trade for giving us permission to set up the debt clock! 0 Photo opportunity at Langley Township Hall 23-FEB-2011 15:30:25 We made a pit-stop in Langley at the Township Municipal Hall for a photo opportunity with mayor Rick Green. Lots of local supporters and passers-by came over to take a look at the clock, get their picture taken, and ask Gregory Thomas questions. One onlooker sighed and said, "what can you do?" in a demoralized manner, and of course we said, go to debtclocktour.ca and make your voice heard! Our campaign page makes it so easy to sign the petition, contact lawmakers, and to make a donation to keep the debt clock running all the way to Halifax. Only by taking action will our message be heard loud and clear by government at all levels. 0 Pub night at Finnegan's Pub and Phoenix Lounge 23-FEB-2011 17:30:00 We finished off the day with a pub night at Finnegan's Pub and Phoenix Lounge in Abbotsford. As soon as we rolled the clock inside it was a big draw. Lots of photos were taken and we chatted with people all about the tour. Niel Corbett from Abbotsford News sat down and had a beer with us while he interviewed Gregory Thomas. Chandler Grieve, a student from BCIT, also came down to get some footage for a documentary he's making on student loan debt and he also sat with us for a little while after grabbing his shots so he and Gregory could talk. It was a great way to end the day. Besides, there's no better way to end the work day than with beers and chicken wings. 0 Pit-stop in Chilliwack 24-FEB-2011 13:00:03 We drove out to Chilliwack and met some of the local media behind the 89.5 FM The Hawk radio station. Roger Myers from Shaw was also there to gather some footage and interview Gregory in front of the clock. Tim Ame from The Hawk asked Gregory some questions in the vehicle while passers-by wanted to get in there for "thumbs down" photos. "Let me get out my checkbook," said one of them with a laugh pointing to the $16,500 amount that each and every Canadian owes the federal government. We all had a good laugh about that. 0 Rotary Club breakfast at Kelowna Yacht Club 25-FEB-2011 07:00:43 Paul Mulhiville, President of the Kelowna Sunrise Rotary Club, was kind enough to invite us to their weekly 7:00 AM breakfast meeting at the Kelowna Yacht Club. Bright and early we went down there display the debt clock. As usual, when the numbers lit up the whole room was illuminated by the red glow of runaway debt, and you could hear the muffle of reactions: "wow" and "holy moly" (among other things). We sat down and had some chow, and Gregory said a few quick words about the National Debt Clock Tour, and our goal to raise awareness about the high level of national debt Canada is accumulating (and to get politicians to act and do something about it). Several rotary club members made presentations during the breakfast, perhaps most notable was Jim Belshaw and his Soles for Souls shoe drive which has a goal of collecting 1,000,000 pairs of second-hand shoes to send to those in need all around the world. They sent 5,000 pairs to Haiti alone last year. Way to go Jim! Of course their treasurer, Ken Spence, also made some quick comments about the budget position of the club, and he couldn't resist taking a lighthearted jab at us. "Commenting on our balanced budget are you?" he said gesturing at the clock with a laugh. "Well our budget is balanced," he reported as the room applauded. A big thanks to Paul for inviting us down! Next it was off to the AM 1150 Sun FM radio station for live interviews with Phil Johnson. Ron Cannan, the Kelowna--Lake Country MP met up with us there to check out the clock - he even took it for a spin around the block! It's always great to see local MPs taking interest. 0 Sneakers Pub night 25-FEB-2011 18:00:07 We pulled up to Sneakers Pub to set up the clock and ran into a group of seven supporters in the parking lot coming down to see it in action. We wheeled the clock inside and set it up under the big screen TV with the hockey game on. Lots of bar patrons took photos and asked us about the clock. One joked that watching those numbers spin was the thing driving him to drink. Ah yes, hockey, beers and the debt clock, what could be more Canadian? 0 Frick and Frack Tap House 26-FEB-2011 18:00:58 We went to Frick and Frack Tap House in Kamloops for some dinner and to display the clock. The pub owner, Frank des Moines, came down to see it and show his support for the tour. A bunch of local media met us there as well. Dave Eagels from Kamloops this week, Murray Mitchell from Kamloops Daily News, and Andrew Hopkins from CFJC TV7 - Kamloops' Very Own. They all got their photos and footage, and asked Gregory questions about the clock and the tour. The staff were very accommodating and comped our perogies and chili prawns. We also ran into a supporter from RBC who had come down with his son to see the clock. 0 Banff National Park 27-FEB-2011 08:00:48 On our way through Banff National Park, we stopped in by Lake Louise Banff, and Canmore to take some photos. There is some amazingly beautiful scenery here. 0 JB Higgenbotham building stimulus plan project 28-FEB-2011 11:30:10 We went down to the JB Higgenbotham post office building in downtown Lethbridge, the site of one of the stimulus plan projects from Canada's Economic Action Plan. This particular project spent $113,662 on improving the bi-lingual signage in the building in this English-speaking region of Canada. As we drove through downtown Lethbridge later on, we got a call from Country 95.5 FM radio, who said they had seen us drive by with the clock, and after following us for several blocks, lost sight of us after a red light. We pulled over so they could catch up with us and get some photos with the clock. While in town we also met up with Global Lethbridge and the Lethbridge Herald looking to get some coverage of the clock. 0 Bomber Command Museum 28-FEB-2011 15:00:01 On our way out of town we also stopped in at the Bomber Command Museum in Nanton for some photos. The museum was built to honour the Canadians who gave their lives serving with Bomber Command (1939 - 1945). 0 Global TV studios and City Hall 01-MAR-2011 09:00:06 The night before arriving in Calgary, we slid on some ice and took out a tail light. The next morning we were ready to leave for our appearance on Global Morning News for a 7:00 AM broadcast with the clock in the studio. That's when we realized we had a flat tire. We didn't have the right sized tire iron either. Thankfully the friend we stayed with, Peter de Jong, a local Calgary realtor, drove us over to Global studios so we could still make the interview. Later that day, after the tire was fixed, we went and set-up near to City Hall where we invited the local media came out and see the clock. It was freaking cold! Minus 30 degree weather meant almost no one wanted to meet us outdoor to see it, but a few still did. We met with local media at City Hall for half and hour, and then took it for a spin around the block before we shut 'er down for the day. 0 Red Deer City Hall 02-MAR-2011 09:00:29 In Red Deer we also took the clock over to City Hall to meet with local media. Grant, a guy from out-of-town who came to Red Deer for work, heard about the clock and had to come out and see it. Despite the minus 30 weather and blowing snow he stuck around for five minutes to admire the clock and marvel at at how fast it was moving. "It's quite shocking," he said. 0 Edmonton City Hall 02-MAR-2011 14:00:30 In Edmonton, we set up outside City Hall again. Just as we were pulling around the building, we heard on the radio that the federal government was not going to fund new professional sports facilities. Meanwhile inside, city council was debating the possibility of funding a professional sports facility in Edmonton. A very strange coincidence we think. We then pulled over so we could jump out and switch seats and a woman came up to us to take a look at the clock. She said to us, "seeing this made my day." 0 The Giant Pysanka 03-MAR-2011 08:00:41 We headed to Vegreville where we took a photo with the world's largest Easter egg, or "pysanka." Then we met up with the Vegreville News Advertiser for photos and an interview. Then we narrowly escaped death on the road again, as all of a sudden, we hit white-out driving conditions. We realize that the vehicle in front of us was braking and we wouldn't have time to stop without sliding into them. To our left was a snow plow, so we swerved right intending to breeze though the gap. We shot the gap, and then Scott yells out. There was a huge semi on the right shoulder. We moved back over to the left to save our skins. Driving in these parts is not for the faint-hearted. 0 Lloydminster City Hall 03-MAR-2011 13:30:29 We pulled into Lloydminster in front of City Hall where we got to meet Paul Klassen of PWN Steel, one of our major sponsors. He came out and we had a we chatted with him for a while and got him a picture with the clock. NewCap media also met up with us and interviewed Scott. It was a great spot. We had the Alberta and Saskatchewan flags in the background behind the clock for the shot. Roy Johns, a local CTF agent also came down to meet us and get a photo. We chatted with Paul and Roy for a while and then it was time to hit the road again. 0 Pit-stop in Maidstone 03-MAR-2011 16:30:23 We made a pit-stop in Maidstone. Many supporters in Maidstone contributed to the debt clock tour and we called them on the way into town to see if any of them might be able to come see the clock. We pulled over to get a photo with the "Welcome to Maidstone" sign, and with the clock running we drove around town for awhile before hitting the highway again. 0 Another casualty of the federal debt 03-MAR-2011 17:30:41 Then we carried on to North Battleford and went to see John Cairns, a reporter for two of the local papers. We did a pre-recorded interview for radio inside, and then he came outside for pictures. He slipped on some ice and injured his arm pretty badly - probably broke a bone. We followed him back inside and one of the reporters called an ambulance for him. As the ambulance arrived and he was lifted into the back of their vehicle on a stretcher, he asked if we could take a photo with the debt clock in the background. Then the lovely female paramedic said to us jokingly, "another casualty of the federal debt." 0 Saskatoon Public Library 04-MAR-2011 10:00:35 We took the clock to the Saskatoon Public Library and invited the local media to join us. Thanks to Carol and Kathryn at the library for partnering with us. CTV, CBC, and Global all came down to meet us there. Two photographers snuck in and left before we could talk to them; must've been from a local paper. After photos and Q&A with the media, three University of Saskatchewan students arrived and were pretty gung ho to check out the clock. We chatted with them for a bit and when it was time to go, they helped us roll it back into the trailer. We invited them to jump in and we drove out to the university. Christopher Thresher and Matthew Bennett got in a picture with the clock, then we went for lunch with them. 0 CTF Head Office 07-MAR-2011 10:00:17 We arrived in Regina early the evening the Friday before and met up with our national sales manager, Rod Cunningham, and one of his friends, Dave Kolodziezak of Fast Fusion Welding in Regina with his wife, Jen, their son, Cole and their two-week old daughter, Myla. In total, their per capita share of the Federal Government Debt is $66,148. Their photo really makes a statement about the burden of debt that is being placed on families against without their expressed consent. It's absolute madness. Dave joined us for some Pilsners outside - this is Pilsner country after all. Monday morning we spent some time at our head office on Victoria Avenue, and took some pictures of our staff with the clock. We went to a local elementary school to make our message heard: it's not okay to pass off the bills for Canadian's services to the next generation of children. Some of the local media came down and we did the usual photos and interviews. Jaws were dropping when passers-by asked about the federal debt, and that's exactly why we're doing this tour - to raise awareness. You can't fix a problem until you can see the problem clearly. 0 Moose Jaw a.k.a Dog RIver (Corner Gas) 08-MAR-2011 09:00:01 In Moose Jaw, we met up with some of the local media, outside of local MP Ray Boughen's office, we talked to the Moose Jaw Times Herald, and Golden West Radio (CJ AM 1280 and Sun 102.3 FM locally) while we were there. Of course we couldn't resist a picture with the giant moose, or stopping in the fictional town "Dog River" (for the TV series, Corner Gas). Just outside the city we stopped to get a bite to eat at Tim Horton's and the woman making the sandwiches behind the counter noticed all the customers staring out the window. They could see the clock parked across the street. She finally sees it and announces to everyone around her, "wow, there's like, a giant debt clock out there." It's like she'd never seen a debt clock before. Sheesh! he look on her face was priceless. 0 Time to terminate the deficit! 08-MAR-2011 13:00:15 Upon our arrival in Weyburn, we met with the local media - the Weyburn Review, Weyburn This Week, and AM 1190 - outside of local MP Ed Komarnicki's office. We also happened to get this random photo of the clock outside a local business, The Welsh Kitchen. And speaking of random, we saw a sign with a machine gun cut-out on it and got an idea for a funny picture. "Time to terminate the deficit!" 0 Pit-stop in Estevan 08-MAR-2011 14:30:54 We finished the day in Estevan outside of MP Ed Komarnicki's other office. We met with reporters from the Estevan Mercury, Estevan Lifestyles Magazine, and CJSL AM 1280 radio. On the way out of town we met a guy who mentioned a Facebook group called We The People, and said check it out if you really care about the debt issue. We chatted him up in line at Subway for a bit. Turns out there's quite a few groups with the title We The People, so I'm not exactly sure which one he's referring to. We appreciate the tip though. 0 Stares and a bucket of chicken 09-MAR-2011 12:00:17 In Moosomin, we drove around town for a little while. The debt clock definitely got a lot of looks, especially when we pulled up for some lunch at a local KFC. 0 Meeting with the Brandon Sun 09-MAR-2011 17:00:07 We arrived in Brandon late afternoon. We called the Brandon Sun to tell them we were passing through town and we arranged to do an interview just outside their offices. We did photos and Q&A and then hit the road again. On our way out of town, we noticed that a couple on the sidewalk was trying to chase us down. We pulled over so they could catch up. We stayed for awhile chatted with them about the clock, and why it's so important that we do this tour and send a message to Parliament. 0 Neepawa Public Access TV's cool set-up 10-MAR-2011 08:30:52 Neepawa will be known as the city we almost didn't get to because we almost ran out of gas. It was early evening and we were coasting along the highway, probably running on fumes. We barely made it into town so we could gas up again. We'll chalk it up to ill effects from the recent spike is gas prices. The tour costs $3.65/km so thank you to all our supporters who recently sponsored some kilometres for the tour with a donation at https://taxpayer.com/donate. We need as much help as we can get to roll this clock all the way to Halifax. The next morning we stopped outside of the Neepawa Public Access TV Channel, and did an interview with the local radio station in the same building, and the Neepawa Banner. And then Colin went inside and did an interview in the TV station's Green Studio, which is just awesome. The studio looks like a warehouse, with a huge green screen, and with the hit of a button it looks like a $100,000 TV set. They have a really cool set-up! 0 Interviews and a giant can of Coca Cola 10-MAR-2011 10:00:58 We stopped outside MP Candice Hoeppner's office, and we did an interview with the Portage Daily Graphic, and another newspaper, the Central Plains Herald Leader. We also stopped to get a picture of the clock with the world's largest can of Coca Cola in Portage. 0 Press conference and supporter meet-up 10-MAR-2011 12:00:10 We pulled into Winnipeg later on in the day and took the clock for a spin around town before arriving at a close friend's house - parking is always hard to come by when you're 32 feet long! We invited the media to meet with us there and held a press conference outside where the clock was parked. Half a dozen local supporters also came out, so thank you all for taking the time to meet with us and some of the CTF's sales agents who also came down. It was a great way to end the day. There's nothing better than getting a chance to meet our supporters face to face and talk about this important issue with them. Thanks to Jen Smith for hosting the press conference and meet-up at her place. 0 Clearspring Centre 11-MAR-2011 11:00:35 We arrived in Steinbach the night before, and so first thing in the morning we drove over to Clearspring Centre and parked outside. Lots of people came over to check out the clock and take pictures, a few even signed our petition for balanced federal budgets: http://taxpayer.com/federal/balanced-federal-budgets. The local radio station, CHSM AM 1250, and the local paper, The Carillon, also met us there for interviews and photos. The Carillon reporter also got in there for a photo, as did our local sales agent, Terrance Petty. 0 Winnipeg Legislature 11-MAR-2011 15:00:44 We made the hour drive back to Winnipeg mid-day as we had promised some supporters we'd make an appearance for them outside the legislature so they could get their photos and see the clock. This one guy went up to get his photo taken and and as he posed next to the spinning numbers, his friend starts razzing him and yells, "hey, are you getting your weight measured?" We hadn't heard that one yet, but it got a chuckle out of us all (the guy was laughing too - c'mon, we're not that cruel). Another passer-by, Glen, also walked over for a photo, and he mentioned to us that he's starting a blog about government and personal debt. Way to go, Glen! It's important for people to discuss these issues, and a blog has a far greater reach than discussions at a party or dinner with friends. The debt clock is now driving straight through to London, Ontario, where the tour resumes on Tuesday, March 15th. 0 Covent Garden Market and OES Scoreboards 15-MAR-2011 09:00:25 Early in the morning we parked the clock at Covent Garden Market. One of our local agents, Al Vanderveen, came down to meet us, as did a reporter from A-Channel and an other from the London Free Press. Kate, the London Free Press reporter, was getting set up when she realized her tripod was broken. We offered ours to her so she could get the quality shots of the clock she was looking for. We also just happened to across the street from a fancy cake store, and a large group of ladies, who might have been on their way to a cake decorating class, were stopped in their tracks by the spinning numbers on the clock. One of them said, "Per person? That's what we owe per person?" They were all shocked by the numbers. A guy outside the cake shop then said to us, "You want to know how to fix this debt, you want to know how?" We were expecting him to say something about printing money when he said, "Lower corporate taxes!" Well, we can't argue with that. From there we went over to OES Scoreboards where we had the clock rebuilt several weeks ago. We met with Jamie Fox, who was our sales guy, and his colleague Rob Pittaro, as well as OES president, Paul Hogendoorn. The last time these guys saw the clock it was leaving in a cardboard box - they hadn't seen it in action yet. Needles to say, rather than taking interest in the numbers on the clock these guys were more interested in how we rigged it all up inside the trailer with a generator and welded metal bars to screw it into place. Thanks again to everyone at OAS Scoreboards for helping make the National Debt Clock Tour happen. 0 Victoria Park and the Cambridge Visitor Center 15-MAR-2011 12:30:40 Later that day we took the clock for a spin in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. We. pulled up to Victoria Park by the entrance and met up with CTV and TheRecord for photos and interviews. A lot of passers-by stopped to take a look at what was going on and a few posed for photos. One of our local sales agents, Gord MacDonald, also popped over to meet with us and chat about the tour. Another one of our local supporters, Eric Merkley, who's a student at Wilfred Laurier University, also came down to check us out, and got in there for a photo as well. We also drove over to the visitor centre in nearby Cambridge. We met a reporter from Cambridge newspaper there and did the usual photos and interview with them. Trysha Wharton, one of our agents from Kitchener, and her 10 year old son, Pierce, also came down to check out the clock. We got a great photo with Scott Hennig, our national communications director, and Pierce giving the thumbs down. 0 Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's office 16-MAR-2011 07:30:52 As we were passing by Whitby, home of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, we couldn't resist pulling up to his office and running the clock outside for some photos. Quite certain that we wouldn't be appreciated too much, we decided not to invite the staff out to get their picture taken. We did invite CHEK TV to come down though and we did the usual photos and interview with them to restate our message: cut spending, balance the budget, and stop this clock!" 0 Canadian Tire on Elgin Street 16-MAR-2011 09:00:00 We were early arriving in Cobourg, so we took the debt clock downtown to Victoria Hall for a photo. The history behind it is that the hall was supposedly in the running to become Canada's parliament building back in the 1800's. Interesting that Cobourg could have been the political capital of Canada. Then we headed over to the Canadian Tire on Elgin Street, where owner and CTF supporter Ralph Moulton had invited us to come display the clock. When we arrived Ralph's staff had blocked off a place for us to park with some shopping carts and yellow tape. It's never easy finding parking for a 32 foot long vehicle, so we thank Ralph and the staff for that. Unfortunately Ralph was on vacation at the time, so he didn't get a chance to get his photo taken with the clock, but it's people like him that have helped make this tour possible with a donation at https://taxpayer.com/donate. The local Cobourg media met us there, and quite a few people walked over the check out the debt clock. One guy signed our petition and talked to the media for a bit. A couple of shoppers also walked over and stared at the clock and got interviewed as well. One guy just stared in disbelief like a zombie. Another supporter of ours, (we think he owns the Fountain Tire in town) also came by and also talked to the local paper, and got some pictures of the clock with his Blackberry. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to chat with him before he left. 0 Pit-stop in Trenton 16-MAR-2011 11:00:57 We were running ahead of schedule again, so we stopped in Trenton, ON. There's a big apple in the middle of a dirt parking lot we wanted to check out. It started raining though and the vehicle got pretty covered in mud. Going to have to hit a car wash before the big day in Ottawa. Trenton is a big air force town, and while we were there we got a picture of the clock with the jet fighter landmark in the background. We also met with the local paper there, The Trentonian, for pictures and an interview. Trenton is actually one of Derek Fildebrandt's (our national research director) hometowns, where he graduated from St. Paul's secondary school. 0 City Hall in Belleville 16-MAR-2011 14:00:58 Next stop was Belleville where board member Karen Selick met us for a photo at City Hall. While there we also met with the local paper The Intellegencer for photos and interview. A large group of people having a smoke break - perhaps nearby workers - got a rise out of the clock and came over to get their photo taken. Other passers-by walked over and got photos as well. Many also signed our petition for a balanced federal budget: http://taxpayer.com/federal/balanced-federal-budgets. 0 Brockville City Hall 16-MAR-2011 15:00:27 When we got to Brockville, we drove right up to City Hall. We had called the local paper, The Brockville Recorder & Times, and they came and met us for some photos and to pick up a press kit. Of course, Rob also met us there and we chatted with him for a bit. He had explained to us on the phone that his property taxes had just gone up 5%, and since he owns a lot of properties, this is really going to gouge him this year. Interestingly, Rob's father is a former mayor in Brockville, and his first budget, they froze property taxes, and now his father is quite upset about the 5% rate hike. It wouldn't be so bad if they're weren't rent controls imposed on landlords in Ontario, Rob explained to us. Rents can only be raised 0.7% per year under the current scheme. It's a sure way to put small business owners like Rob out of business. It's really amazing that we can connect with people on Twitter and Facebook on the fly like this and meet up with them if we're close by. Five years ago, that wouldn't have been possible. Rob commented again on Facebook after this, and here's what he said: "WOW. Talk about ask and you shall receive. There it was at 6:30 parked in front of Brockville City Hall, the Debtclock in person. Great to meet Derrick and Scott on their cross county trek to get the message out. Very worthwhile cause and every Canadian taxpayer should thank taxpayers.com for exposing government waste." A big thanks to Rob for contacting us! Once Rob and the media had left City Hall, we had literally just turned off the clock's generator to save gas, when we heard someone say "Awww, it's off now." There was a guy with his daughter of about 10 years standing behind the open doors of the trailer. He had heard us on the radio in Kingston and heard that we were going to be at Brockville's City Hall at 6:30. Of course we fired up the clock once more for them so they could get a photo and check out the numbers. We explained the per capita amount on the bottom and how his daughter already owes more than $16,500 to the federal government alone. She made the comment, "too much shopping," a simple but accurate analysis. 0 CORUS Media Station and Kingston City Hall 16-MAR-2011 17:00:50 Then it was off to Kingston. We stopped by the CORUS Media station where we also met with CKWS Kingston, the local TV station, and they did a pretty long story on us. They talked to a bunch of people who had walked over to check out the clock and got some commentary from them as well. After that, Derek went inside to do some radio interviews, a live one and a pre-recorded one, and Scott stayed outside with some of the local media reporters who were still gathering their photos and footage. Derek had been wearing a flat cap that day, and Scott tried to crack a joke to the reporter about it. The reporter laughed but stuck up for flat caps - "it's a great hat," she said smugly. Nice try, Scott - I guess you're just not a hat guy. During the live interview, Derek mentioned that Rob Sheridan, one of our supporters, saw us on CTV the other day and looked us up on Facebook. He saw that we were coming to Belleville and wanted to see if we might be able to come meet him in Brockville. We gave him Derek's number and when he called we happened to have a little extra time, so we said "sure." We agreed to meet him at 6:30 PM in front of the Brockville City Hall. Before leaving Kingston, we went down to City Hall and met with The Kingston Whig-Standard, the major paper in the area, as well as Kingston This Week. We did the usual photos and interviews before hitting the road again to meet Rob in Brockville. 0 Parliament Hill 17-MAR-2011 07:00:34 We started the day in Ottawa by getting the Debt Clock washed and cleaned up so it would be ready for it's close-up at Parliament Hill. Well, not exactly "at" the Hill. Most of you probably already know the story about the clock being banned from the Hill, with officials citing fears of the generator leaking. Apparently you can smoke pot on the Hill, parade coffins around, and suspend a giant TV from a crane (all activities allowed in the past) but it was considered too "dangerous" to drive a horse trailer with a generator onto the Hill. Of course, we suspect that MPs simply didn't want to see how much we owe. How else to explain the fuzzy logic? We decided to set-up across the street from the Hill instead, on Wellington at Metcalfe. We had a good vantage point from there and still had the Parliament building in the background. We figured this was a workable compromise for our press conference. At 10:30 AM we had a full court press there: a dozen or so cameras and reporters who had lots of good questions for us. The toughest question was: "The budget is hitting the table next week, what do you really hope to achieve?" Derek's answer was this: "The last time we did this tour it was 1993 and the budget was balanced by 1997, however it took until 1995 for government to get the message so this is really just the start of the campaign. The campaign doesn't end when we get to Nova Scotia." Indeed, we've seen the issue gather steam as we went from city to city, and this is only the beginning. While the press conference winded down, we noticed quite a few supporters had come out to see the clock by the Hill. Scott chatted with a husband and wife who had brought their and two sons down to see the clock. The guy was really pumped to check it all out. He said that he doesn't think people get the issue, and that he really appreciated the fact that we were out here doing this. We are now seeing the issue get unprecedented media attention, and we are definitely proud to be doing this work to put Canada back on the road to balanced budgets. Another guy walked up to Derek and started chatting with him. He had some interesting things to say: "I was homeless for 25 years but I got sober and got my act together and now I'm a landscaper and I work all the time. I gotta tell you, I was on the street for 25 years, and it doesn't take a lot of money to live, what the #@$% is the government doing? The government needs to get a job!" Dave Quist from the Institute of Marriage and Family came out to see us as well. Dave works in the same office building that our Ottawa office is located in. Great to see you, Dave! There were also just plenty of people in the area sightseeing in the city, many with nice cameras - we had quite a few of them taking pictures as well. After chatting with supporters and a few others, we drove around to the other side of Parliament to see if we could get any photos from different vantage point, but no such luck. We then spent the rest of the afternoon with Holly Doan, who is a former news anchor and reporter turned documentary film producer. She's doing an 8-part series of 30 minute episodes for Canadian Political Affairs Channel (CPAC), one of which focusses on debt in all it's forms. She wanted to spend the afternoon with us and the clock gathering footage, so we drove out to Russell, ON with her and John, her cameraman. He rigged up a camera on the side of the trailer in order to film the numbers spinning as we drove down the highway. When the camera was all set we took off down the road and Scott was interviewed on camera by them as he drove. We spent about 4 hours with them filming, and it seems they got some great footage. Thanks for including us in the series, Holly! Last, but not least we ended the day with a couple well-deserved Saint Paddy's Day beers. 0 Carleton Place Town Hall 18-MAR-2011 09:00:19 We spent the day checking out the Ottawa Valley and the first city we went was Carleton Place where we set-up outside of the Town Hall. There was a decent crowd there waiting for us when we arrived. One of them was Gary Strike, or "Mr. Canada" as he is known to some. He used to be a City Councillor, and is now involved in various projects, one of which involves tracing the outline of the Canadian flag onto a plain white flag, and then having people sign their names in red ink on the flag's edges and inside the leaf, so that from a distance it looks like the Canadian flag. It's meant as a tribute to remember the victims of 9/11. He's working on one now to present to the mayor of New York City on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy this September. The local paper, the Carleton Place/Almonte Canadian Gazette, was there as well and we did the usual photos and interview. As we were driving out of town, we got an email from a lady who had punched in a wrong address we had given her into her GPS, and of course couldn't find us. We apologized and arranged to meet with her somewhere else. Just as we pulled over to meet her, her daughter and grand-daughter, another family walked up to us as well. In fact, it was almost an entire extended family - grandparents, their children, and grandchildren were all there. We got a great photo with the two families. One lady, Marlene Black, is actually an editor for the Landowner magazine, which focusses on "rural politics, rural businesses, and rural families." 0 Arnprior City Hall 18-MAR-2011 11:45:57 Next we pulled up in Arnprior and did a quick and dirty media stop down at City Hall. Two of their local papers came out to take photos and ask us some questions. Then we hit the road again and continued north. 0 Renfrew City Hall 18-MAR-2011 12:30:03 Renfrew was our last stop of the day, and we went down to their City Hall as well and met the local paper's reporter there. He informed us that he was going to share the story from a reporter in Carleton Place, but wanted to get some of his own photos. There were also a couple of supporters there, one of whom was Ken Oday and his buddy - these two guys were the founders of the local Landowners Association. These guys were pumped to see the clock and we talked with them as they took some photos - really great guys to chat with. After they left, we went for lunch and the day was done. 0 The Big "Owe" in Montreal 19-MAR-2011 08:00:26 On our way into Montreal the next morning we did CJAD live radio to promote our stop there that day. When we arrived, we pulled up in front of the Big "Owe," (Olympic stadium) which was famous for costing about a billion dollars in 1976, and was only recently paid off a few years ago. It is an icon of government waste and overspending and debt, probably one of the best examples in the country. Of course we got a photo of it with the debt clock. Then we drove downtown for awhile to take some more photos around the city. 0 Photos in Quebec City 19-MAR-2011 12:00:32 We also drove through Quebec City and got some photos of the debt clock in front of the National Assembly, as well as in front of the walls around the Old City, and then from across the river to get one with the Quebec City skyline. 0 Garrison Ale House and Fredericton Legislature 21-MAR-2011 07:30:12 We set the clock up at the Garrision Ale House, owned by Doug Williams, mid-morning and invited the media to meet us there. Doug was a bit surprised not only by the size of the debt, but also by the size of the clock. It's a 12 foot long scoreboard, after all. Even our own Atlantic director, Kevin Lacey, was shocked by its size when the debt clock pulled up the get him from the airport in Montreal a few days ago. Luckily, it fit perfectly in the far end of the room where we put up the New Brunswick plate and reprogrammed the clock so we could display the provincial debt. CBC, Global, and three local radio stations met us there for photographs and interviews. Kevin also did a pre-recorded interview for the CBC's News Maker program - a 30 minute Q&A with the debt clock running in the background. Before Doug opened up shop for the lunch rush, we loaded the clock back into the trailer so the tables could be moved back into place. Thanks again for having the debt clock make a visit at Garrison Ale House! Next we went and got the vehicle washed. It's amazing how dirty this thing gets driving around. After that it off to the Legislature where we met a reporter from Canada East Newspapers. They took some shots of the clock both in the trailer with the federal debt numbers running, and then with the clock out of the trailer and re-programmed to show the provincial debt. We pulled the generator out of the trailer and fired it up on the lawn so we could get a good shot of the provincial debt with the legislature in the background. Security guards from the legislature eventually wandered over to us to ask what we were doing and why we were taking up 3 parking spots with empty meters, (not to mention running the generator on the lawn). They only wanted to know if we were going to plug the meters, but after explaining we were just stopping for a quick photo, they let us finish up and get on our way. 0 Pit-stop in Woodstock 21-MAR-2011 12:30:48 Then we headed to Woodstock, home of David Alward, Premier of New Brunswick. We met with the Bugle Observer and did the usual drill with photos and an interview. After that we packed it up and drove around town for a little while, and then headed back to Frederickton for the evening. 0 Provincial budget day for New Brunswick 22-MAR-2011 14:00:36 We spent the day in Fredericton for the release of the New Brunswick 2011 provincial budget. Atlantic director, Kevin Lacey had a good scrum with the media. 0 Confederation House 23-MAR-2011 08:00:30 In Charlottetown we visited Confederation House which is where our fathers of confederation held the Charlottetown Conference back in 1864 to create Canada. The House was built in the 1830's or 40's, and was used as the legislature building back then as it is today - it's the second oldest legislature building in Canada after Nova Scotia's. We were planning to meet a reporter from the local paper, The Guardian, outside. but when we pulled up, the only place to park was occupied by a delivery truck. The reporter kindly asked the delivery men how long they would be there, and they just replied by asking if we needed to take some photos. They graciously drove around the block a few times while we snapped some pictures and did a quick interview. Thanks guys, whoever you are! Kevin went back to the hotel to check us out of the room and Scott went for a quick 20 minute tour inside Confederation House. It was quite small inside, but he said it was a very beautiful old building, and that he was the only person in the tour group since tourist season hasn't yet arrived - usually a spot like this is teeming with tourists. The nicest room was the confederation room, which Scott got a nice picture of. The tour guide noted that PEI actually had an elected senate prior to confederation, and that if little 'ol PEI had that figured out before confederation, "why can't we figure out an elected senate now?" Good point! 0 Waterfront Mall 23-MAR-2011 10:00:49 Next it was off to Summerside where we hit up Waterfront Mall. We set-up outside in the parking lot and met a reporter from The Journal Pioneer newspaper there. When we were finishing up with photos, these two young guys in their early 20's saw the clock from the road and pulled into the parking lot right up beside us. One of them asked "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?" Scott laughed and said, "It's a bad thing - it's not good because this debt keep going up." "That's crazy! Look how fast that thing's moving," his friend said said. Then the other guy got out of the car, dressed in coveralls and big rubber boots - a fisherman perhaps - to get a closer look. Scott asked if he wanted to get his photo taken with it, and he agreed "but only if I can moon the clock," the said. His friend tried to egg him on, but in the end, he decided not to bare his cheeks at the clock, although it would have probably made the front page of Taxpayer.com. As they pulled away, we overhead one of them say, "I'm definitely facebooking this!" All of a sudden, another guy pulls up in his truck with his wife and asks "Are you guys part of the government?" A little startled, Kevin Lacey replied, "No, no, we're a non-profit and this is all paid for with private donations." "Oh, good," the guy said, "because nobody hates the government more than me! What you guys are doing is great." He just drove off after that, leaving us a bit bewildered, but having a good chuckle too. 0 The Amherst Daily News Office 23-MAR-2011 11:50:27 We drove back over Confederation bridge and visited Amherst, Nova Scotia. We pulled up at the local paper, Amherst Daily News, and a bunch of their staff poured outside to see the clock. Their sports reporter was particularly excited to see it. We chatted with a few of the staff about the tour and got some pictures taken, and after that we drove around Amherst for a bit to check out the city. 0 Springhill, Canada 23-MAR-2011 13:48:40 We didn't have a stop planned for Springhill, but as we passed by we said "why not pull in and do a drive through town?" We happened to pass by the local newspaper office, and decided to pull up and see if anyone was around. Kevin Lacey was still on the phone doing a radio interview for a station in St. John. Scott was just waiting for Kevin to finish the radio interview on his phone before going inside, when he noticed someone outside the vehicle already taking pictures of the clock. Scott got out and introduced himself, and the reporter said, "this is great, you make my job so easy pulling right up to our doors!" He added that he had just been inside listening to Kevin on the radio when we pulled up. Random coincidence, or is the National Debt Clock Tour taking over the airwaves? He was just about to run off elsewhere, but he grabbed some photos and said he would borrow the story from Amherst Daily News. Bada-bing, bada-boom! 0 Some Bobby Awards history 24-MAR-2011 09:26:45 Unfortunately, Truro was rather uneventful. There's a daily paper and a couple radio stations in town, but for some reason none were available to meet us that day. So we did the next best thing and drove around to see the city which was really beautiful. The old houses are really well-kept, and the buildings are all brick and stone. The scenery made it Scott's favourite stop of the day. What came to mind as we were driving through is that former Prime Minister Robert Stanfield was born in Truro in 1914. the CTF actually named it's Bobby Awards after him because he suffered a media-stunt-gone-wrong when he planned on catching a football on live record and ended up fumbling the ball pretty badly. It killed his campaign at the time, but we use the awards as more of a nod to "congratulations for taking a risk and trying something new." We pulled up to the Colchester Historical Museum for a picture before we left town. Then it was off to New Glasgow. 0 Highlands Mall 24-MAR-2011 11:20:57 Next stop was New Glasgow, which is a sister city to Pictou. We set up outside Highlands Mall in the parking lot and met with the local paper there, The News -New Glasgow. We chatted with the reporter for a bit and got some photos taken with the clock running in front of the mall. Then we drove around town a little to see some more of it. It was a really nice little town. 0 Antigonish Mall 24-MAR-2011 12:59:36 In Antigonish we drove around for awhile then pulled up at Antigonish Mall. We waited there for about an hour and a half for media to show up, but not a soul to be seen. We contemplated leaving but we had told the news rooms we would be there. Finally we see someone walking over to us - with dogs in tow, holding a stick and a tennis ball. Turns out he was from Newfoundland and he spent part of the year working up in Fort McMurray Alberta. He didn't know about the debt clock stopping there, he had only wandered over to take the dogs out to play. We had a good chat with him about the tour and told him to check out Taxpayer.com. Then he and the dogs wandered off to an open area of the lot. Scott then decided to go into the mall, and just then another guy pulls up his car right in front of the clock, got out and started videotaping. Right away he asked Kevin a few questions on camera, which Kevin was happy to answer. Kevin then inquired which media outlet he was from and it turns out he was a retired school teacher with a camera - and someone who really disagrees with the debt. He was even commenting as he filmed that the debt is a terrible thing and that it's important that we do whatever it takes to start the clock running the other way. He told us he really appreciated what we were doing. He just drove a way after taping the short video. Maybe he'll upload it on YouTube? After two false alarms, we decided not to wait anymore. if the media won't come to us… we finally went over to the main paper's office to find out what was happening. Turns out they had already come by and taken a photo without us even noticing! Very strange indeed. I mean, we were waiting in the vehicle out in the middle of this empty parking lot and we didn't see anyone else come up to us or knock on the windows or anything. Well, at least we solved the mystery of the invisible media reporter. 0 Tim Horton's and the Mastodon 24-MAR-2011 16:12:05 We were running a little late to meet Patrick Healey, a guy we connected with on Twitter, who's also a reporter for The Laker and The Weekly Press in Stewiacke. He had asked Kevin earlier if we would come and meet up with him, and we'd agreed to. All day he had been on Twitter discussing the debt clock tour. But we were late, and he had to go to a city council meeting, so we agreed to wait until he was free to meet up for photos and an interview. It was a good thing we waited. Stewiacke turned out the be our best stop of the day. We were just in a parking lot by a Sobey's and a Tim Horton's, taking some photos with Patrick, and just as we had finished up and were about to turn off the clock, a truck driver named John walks over. He has just parked his rig and was on his way into Timmy's when he asked us "Is this the thing that got banned from Parliament Hill?" "Yeah it is," Scott replied. Turns out he had just heard all about it on the Tom Young show on News 88.9 FM in Saint John, NB. He asked about Ottawa and if we ever made it onto the Hill. "We had to go across the road" we told him, "good enough though." "Those politicians! Great that you guys are doing this" he said as he waved and wandered off. Then a guy with his wife pulled up in their company van. He got out for a few minutes and asked lots of questions about how the number is calculated and how much of the debt is held foreignly. We talked about the US debt a little as well. It was easy to see the whole subject of debt was making his blood boil - he was cursing up a storm! Then he cracked a joke: "We invented stealing out here in Nova Scotia, and now the politicians are the ones stealing from us." He explained that the area used to have a bunch of commerce back in the day, and any way politicians could think of to steal from working folks they did. We chatted a few more minutes than he and his wife took off and since we were close by, we headed over to Stewiacke's Mastodon Ridge, which has a life-size statue of a mastodon, a prehistoric tusked elephant. We got a photo of the debt clock by the ridge. Wouldn't it be nice if deficit spending was a relic of the past? On our way back down we saw the same guy with his wife again, and he asked us if he could get a picture on his Blackberry. We said "sure," and fired up the clock one more time for the shot. As we were doing this, he got interested in how the generator was all hooked up, so we gave him a little tour of the trailer before he went back out to take his pictures. He specifically liked that there was a Timmy's in the background to make the photo more "Canadian." We got to chatting with him a bit more and we learned that he runs a small business and usually has 3-5 employees working for him. He said that every time he has to cut a cheque to the government it drives him crazy because he can see how a lot of it just gets wasted, and that he could really stand to pay the government less and his business and employees more. "Thanks for the photos," he said. Scott offered to get in on a photo with him and some more shots were taken. We never did get his name before he left, but he's a pretty good example of how many small business owners in Canada feel the pinch of deficit spending. 0 Atlantica Hotel, the Citadel, and 95.7 FM Talk Radio 25-MAR-2011 08:30:36 We held a press conference in Halifax at the Atlantica Hotel, where we had invited the media and our local supporters to meet us. We took the debt clock out of the trailer and rolled it into a meeting room where we put on the Nova Scotia faceplate, but the number we used was actually a mash-up. We combined Nova Scotian's portion of the federal debt with the province's debt for a grand total of $28-billion owing. That works out to just over $30,000 per person in Nova Scota. The reason we did this is that Nova Scotia has a really weird budget this year - they put a bunch of of spending onto last years budget which raised last year's deficit quite significantly but created the appearance of a balanced budget this year. In reality, Nova Scotia ran a deficit this year, they just hid the overspending in last year's numbers. They even go to the extent of having an alternative budget which shows the true deficit, but in order to avoid the accusation of our numbers being too high we went with their official numbers and just added them to the federal numbers. We had Global TV arrive to film the press conference, and also had some of our local supporters come down to hear our message: cut spending, balance the budget and stop this clock. Then we took the clock up the highest hill in the area to the citadel, the location of the Halifax Armory. The citadel has been restored to look much as the fort did in 1856 and tours of it are given regularly. The citadel was originally put up by the British army as a protective fort against possible attach by the French, and the city of Halifax was built around it. We met with a reporter from the Chronicle-Herald up there and took some photos. Next we picked up Michael Kennedy, a Dalhousie student who was interning for us last summer in Ottawa, and we went over to the Rogers radio station to meet some of the hosts. We met with Maritime Morning talk show host Jordi Morgan, and Rick Howe of The Rick Howe Show, on All News Radio 95.7 FM in Halifax. They came out and took a photo with the clock. Rick said he thought it was going to be an actual "clock" clock, like the kind you tell time with. He was surprised to see it was a rolling calculation. We got a great photo with Rick and Jordi lightheartedly pointing the finger of blame at each other. 0 GM (Government Motors) dealership in Kentville 25-MAR-2011 12:50:28 Next it was off to Kentville where we met with the local paper, the Kings Country Register. We chatted with the reporter for a bit and got some photos taken before heading over to the local GM ("Government Motors") dealership for a picture. Corporate welfare certainly isn't helping our deficit situation. We drove around town just a little more before heading our home base back to Halifax for the night. 0 Halifax, Canada 26-MAR-2011 08:50:04 0 Peggy's Cove, Canada 26-MAR-2011 11:00:47 0 Lunenburg, Canada 26-MAR-2011 13:23:27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0