from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
cc cmcfarlane@nscad.ca
date Sat, Oct 3, 2015 at 12:34 AM
subject Dernier débat des chefs: attaques et répliques incisives; Leaders’ debate: Parties argue over economy, security, niqabs and marijuana
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Sorry I didn’t write last night, I had the kids and my Official Agent had suggested I go to bed at the same time they did, so I did, and was out by 9. Next week will be crazy with the debate and then Viva!, so a good idea to catch up on some sleep. Tonight was the inverse: a full day, meetings, posters, meetings, tech questions re: debate, then getting gear with Kim from Concordia, then getting kids (traffic in between all these things: construction everywhere), then Kim and Jean-Michel and kids over for supper and playdates, Kim cooked and then we watching the debate (you looked more nervous and sweaty than usual – and lots of rapid-eye movements), but the general consensus (at least amongst us three adults and a smattering of our Facebook friends) is complete and utter despair and overall election fatigue. These debates aren’t debates at all, just more time for each of you to repeat your talking points, slogans, worn-out lines. I can’t for the life of me understand why the niqab “issue” is taking up so much space in this election, except that I know you know it would have this exact effect, that of introducing “a divisive or controversial social issue into a campaign, aligning its own stance with the dissenting faction of its opponent party, with the goal of causing vitriolic debate inside the opposing party, defection of its supporters, and the legitimising of sentiment which had previously been considered inappropriate”. It sounds as if you had this up your sleeve even before you hired Crosby. How can you stoop so low, and how do you sleep at night?
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
cc cmcfarlane@nscad.ca
date Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 12:36 AM
subject Des Canadiens demandent l’expulsion du sénateur Don Meredith; Waterloo riding is the ultimate bellwether — and the race is still to close to call in the booming Ontario city
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived the weekend, the drop in temperature, the closing of the windows, and some apartment renos this morning. Saturday was gymnastics and hip-hop dancing classes for the kids, then some free playtime as Clo and I puttered around the house trying to get the yard ready for winter and the basement ready for my folks. They arrive the day before the election, in 2 weeks, and our plan is to have the guest room in the basement completely re-painted. This morning I built a small wall and changed the orientation of a closet door, expanding the closet, and there are weird gaps to be filled, leftovers from previous partial renovations. So I haven’t yet even looked at the questions for the debate tomorrow, to which Anne Lagacé Dowson has just confirmed her presence, bringing the total to seven. Just missing Justin and Yvon, your candidate who replaced me. Justin is appearing on Daily Vice tomorrow at the Great Hall in Toronto, so maybe we can watch the live stream during the start of our debate. No, that’s a terrible idea. I’m up to 20% on the Indiegogo campaign, Colin ordered a screenprint the other day, and I’m in touch with Graff and another artist who might be able to help me with the edition. I haven’ screen-printed anything since my NSCAD days, over 15 years ago.
2 weeks to the election. In the face of terrible polls I’m trying to remain optimistic that we’ll have a three-way tie on October 20, and you’ll step down, and the governor general will ask Elizabeth May to become Prime Minister. Ok this is fantasy more that optimism but if you win another majority after playing such filthy dirty politics… ugh, I don’t even want to consider it.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
cc cmcfarlane@nscad.ca
date Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 11:30 PM
subject Harper obtient l’argument de vente qu’il convoitait; Election polls have become less reliable in an age of cellphones and telemarketing
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived the Papineau debate, though it feels like just barely. I had to pee so badly by the end it was all I could think about. That, and how trapped and restrictive it felt. I had spent the day working on my responses but you know French isn’t my strength; I feel as though I came across as bumbling and un-prepared. I probably shouldn’t have started that closet and basement reno project yesterday. But in any case, the whole thing was very professional, not a full house but a good crowd, at one point maybe close to 100 people? But after 2.5 hours the auditorium had cleared out a bit. It was alike a slow-motion blur, and I,m still digesting it, but mostly I’m just exhausted. Election fatigue. And now you’ve gone and signed the TPP so you can trumpet just how great you are in supporting free trade deals that are anything but free, and not really deals if they need to be made in secret. A bit pompous of you to claim that our entire future depends on this deal? And that every single industry and worker will benefit? I guess that’s the campaign talking. Arg I’m sick of the campaign.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
cc cmcfarlane@nscad.ca
date Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 10:48 AM
subject Trudeau n’annulerait pas la vente d’armes à l’Arabie saoudite; Michael Burgess, famed Canadian tenor and theatre star, dead at 70
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Sorry I haven’t written lately. Tim is a very precious commodity lately. Last night I had an OPP parent committee meeting which I left early from so Clo and I could catch the first night of performances at Viva!. As is normally the case, we saw 3 performances that contained a bit of everything: costumes, props, sound, silence, spillage, forced audience participation, rhythms, banging, boredom, sandwiches, paint. So nothing outside the realm of normal for performance art. We left a bit early, during the sandwiches-paint-drying perf, as we had hired Dimitri again to babysit (he had come Monday night during the debate) and didn’t want to stay out too late. I can’t very well claim this extra babysitting as an election expense since Viva! is not in the riding. I’ve since had more interviews, put up more signs, and am up over $2000 with the fundraising campaign. my ex-ex-girlfriend (from high school – pre-Karina!) contacted me from Florida and made a generous donation. She’s a chiropractor now. I could use some work on my back as it is in constant knots. Maybe stress from my Facebook feed, which is full of bad, bad news. Are people around Québec City that stupid and xenophobic to fall for your nasty niqab distraction? Apparently they are. Anyway, I’m trying to get the basement prepped for an all-out painting blitz, so am repairing a bunch of the renos that were left unfinished from a few years ago, as well as trying to fix up the haphazardness of it all, in my own haphazard manner. And I drove around all day yesterday with a door in my car, as I was planning to return it to Home Despot but I have misplaced the receipt, so am going there post-haste to return it anyway. I had bought the wrong door, and today I need the room in the car to bring back a new sink for the basement bathroom. All election and art plans are on hold for a few days until the basement is ready for my folks. I was so bummed about about losing that receipt yesterday that I could feel those fingers of depression sliding behind my eyes, that foggy feeling that usually happens more in the dead of winter. I’ll fight it. Like I’ll fight against your false democracy.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 12:41 AM
subject Des foules record ont recours au vote par anticipation; Sensing shift, PS union targets Poilievre’s riding
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Sorry I haven’t written lately. Time is a very precious commodity lately, as you know. At least I’m not living on a bus or a plane for the past two and a half months, but I have been renovating the basement, which is chewing up spare time like my kids chew through videos on Sunday mornings. I survived Viva! which for me, on Thursday and Friday, consisted on feeding the kids at home then driving to St. Henri where the kids ran around in circles or jumped up and down or swung on the chain block or climbed banisters and railings (essentially showed the performance artists present just how easy it can be to make performance art) and then drove them back home, usually just after the first performances began. Saturday Luneva had a sleep-over at our house, but we also had Dimitri over again to babysit, as I went back to Viva! for the final performance (a zany, hilarious piece with great props and sound effects by Polish artist Arti Grabowski), then we stayed for the closing party, dropped some MDMA and danced until almost dawn. Viva Viva! The rest of the weekend was spent hosting birthday brunches, the first on Sunday for SRoberts and her sis RRR was in town, then Monday with the Hubert family. Today I went to the Régis des alcools to try to fast-track une demande de permis (they recommend applying 15 days before the event), and the agent looked at my request and flat-out told me he thought it would be rejected and that I should have a plan B, but then he called me later in the afternoon and said it had been approved! Someone in Québec City likes me.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 10:18 PM
subject Les Canadiens s’attendent à de hauts standards éthiques, dit Trudeau; Voters worried about public service cuts: PSAC poll
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Sorry I didn’t write last night, Clo and I drank a bottle of wine and fell asleep with the kids. I didn’t even brush my teeth or put my mouth guard in. Don’t worry; I didn’t clench my teeth too hard and split my tooth again. Today I put up a few more campaign signs, in the morning after getting more paint for Denis, outside Justin’s office, then met Clo in the Mile End for lunch. We ate at some trendy rocker-chick bar-resto, I had a vegetarian poutine but it was just ordinary. Met up with Kim at Café Larue for yet another interview, this time with an artist working on a video series about independent candidates for le Voir. My election fatigue is hitting new highs that I didn’t even think possible, what with news of Trudeau’s campaign manager lobbying Enbridge and your witch doctor quitting you because his racist plan doesn’t seem to be working the way it did in England with Cameron. Do you feel sad that Lynton has left the country and his company is claiming to have nothing to do with you? Do you feel betrayed somehow? I really hope he gauged your party for a gazillion dollars. Anyway, this evening I put up a few more signs, in the rain, but sheltered under the 40. A constituent had emailed me a few days ago asking for a sign so I dropped one off tonight, then came home to put a second coat of paint on the basement floor. It will require a third but Denis will do it tomorrow. Now we’re off to watch Infoman; I think the little interview I did with Jean-René finally aired. At the very least, I made the Miss Candidat section.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Oct 18, 2015 at 11:14 PM
subject Les chefs encouragent leurs partisans à faire sortir le vote; Job No. 1 for Canada’s next prime minister: Pick an office, any office
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived a few more interviews on Friday, and then the weekend final post-painting blitz on the basement and getting the room set up for my folks, who arrived today by 3:30. They make the drive in record time! Before one of my interviews on Friday I was on the phone with EI because I made the mistake of clicking the “are you self-employed” button after my last claim, which turned out to be a big deal because, as I learned, if you spend time on your self-employment such as your art career, then EI doesn’t think you can look for or accept a full-time job. After over an hour it got sorted out, but the issue of the political campaign came up and the fact that I am volunteering for myself as a candidate – and doing election things like putting up signs, talking to citizens, doing interviews, etc. – actually disqualifies me from EI benefits. This is insane. Lucky I am not receiving benefits yet, I was only keeping my claim open and filing every 2 weeks because that’s what the previous agent had suggested I do. The 2-week waiting period (the no payments period) is still going to happen after they have calculated the end of my severance. All this makes me wonder, have you ever been on EI? Will you go on EI if you lose the election tomorrow? I notice your party took out huge, expensive front-page ads in every paper in the country. Are you worried that might put you over the top when it comes to election spending limits? Do you care? Do you care only about power? Was it the last dirty trick in your phone-book-sized book of dirty tricks? Will there be cases of voter suppression tomorrow? Robocalls? I’m stressed and nervous. Nervous and stressed. Election fatigue.
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 11:46 PM
subject Trudeau à Obama: les frappes contre l’EI cesseront; Nearly 200 rookie MPs were elected on Monday. Here’s who to watch
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived #elxn42, and hosted a Party sans Parti last night at Eastern Bloc to watch the results and celebrate. This is the speech I gave:
Dear Stephen,
How do you feel? You knew heading into October 19, after 9 years in power, five with a strong-stable-national-conservative-majority-government, that the odds were stacked against you. Even without the scandals, corruption, muzzling scientists, ignoring First Nations, running up the national debt and six straight years of deficits – even without pissing off 70% of the electorate, you’d be facing that uphill battle of hitting your shelf life of government. Sometimes people just want to see a fresh face.
So despite 2 years of trying to convince people that Justin is not ready, he’s about to become our PM. I don’t know whether to thank you for trying or admonish you for not trying hard enough. Justin has been my MP since 2008. I’ve never met him, though I must admit I’ve never tried. The closest I’ve come is during that massive anti C-51 protest back in February. I’m just thankful that with only a minority government he’ll follow-through on his promises to amend the Bill. Otherwise events like this, and artists exercising the freedom to exercise their voices in public, will continue to diminish.
For me this campaign has been about finding a voice: how to combine art and politics and speak to and through and of the media structures that continue to parrot what the big parties want them to say, or what their owners want them to say. This has been probably the most important Canadian federal election in a generation or more.
Je veux remercier ma famille de m’avoir enduré, surtout mon agente officielle, mon épouse Claudine, mes enfants Rose et Sol, mes parents Jill et Bob, mes meilleurs conseillers au Nouveau Brunswick, Judith and Robert, et toutes les personnes qui m’ont appuyé de près ou de loin, entre autres Clément, pour l’affiche ; Spencer, Clark et Rickie Lea pour les montages vidéo ; l’équipe de Viva et d’Optica, Nairi, Victoria, James, Sarah ainsi que les journalistes et les étudiants qui sont venus me rencontrer dans les derniers mois et les supporters de la première heure qui sont devenus membres du parti Conservateur pour appuyer ma démarche… And of course I can’t not thank the great constituents of Papineau and the other candidates of this riding who worked really hard, some of whom (maybe even name Anne?) were on the streets every day canvassing door to door and even supporting my campaign.
So Stephen, goodbye. I know you’ll miss reading my letters, but maybe Justin will forward them if you ask him nicely…
– chris
I also want to highlight the work of my fellow candidate artist and candidate Kim Waldron who also wants to say a few words :
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sun, Oct 25, 2015 at 11:48 PM
subject Trudeau incité à garder de bonnes relations avec les dirigeants mondiaux; Ontario newborn bleeds to death after family doctor persuades parents to get him circumcised
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. Sorry I haven’t written much; I figured you would like some space. Also things have not slowed down much since the election. Tonight I feel asleep (again) with Sol and so now plan to be awake for a bit, but will go to bed and watch a bad movie on Netflix. My Chrome is acting up and I don’t have the stamina to figure out what is wrong. My Safari is acting weird as well. I have little stamina leftover for anything at the moment; I gather you must feel a tad drained as well.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 9:45 AM
subject Queen’s Park accueille Justin Trudeau en héros; Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford suffering cancer-related health setback
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I am working on our taxes for 2014. With the house purchase, éco-reno tax credits and everything else, my head hurts. Met Kim about it last night while the kids had a playdate all around us. Today and tomorrow Rose is with us as the teachers are on strike. Fuck austerity! Now Couillard can have our full attention. He’s next to go.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 10:47 PM
subject La demande de recomptage dans Longueuil-Saint-Hubert rejetée; Andrew Coyne: Like it or not, Trudeau’s agenda is daring
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. How is the packing going? We went to IKEA today and I bought some storage boxes as it seems I am always moving papers from one place to another, losing important ones in the process. Lots of digital shuffling going on as well; I have 4 hard drives beside me! Also we went to Costco, as my folks have a membership, and I bought an LED 32″ monitor to use with my MacMini, as the iMac is full (even with all the backups of backups). It was a steal at $200. We also tempted fate and drove to the Plateau to get the new mattress, the round trip took an hour but Clo and I will sleep better. The air mattress has been less than optimal. I received a call from Pip requesting some tech assistance tomorrow, maybe Friday too. The extra $ will be helpful. I’m plugging away at the long list of things to do for the show at Le Lieu, but it will keep me quite busy right to the end I fear.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Thu, Oct 29, 2015 at 10:41 PM
subject Les étudiants auraient été plus nombreux à voter; Rob Ford acknowledges that disease might kill him after cancer recurrence confirmed
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived a full day at SBC working on the last-minute installation details for the exhibition of drawings, paintings and beehive structures by Anna Boghiguian. The work involved fitting glass and drawings into beehive frames, and assembling some photographs and sandwiched paintings on dowels. In the middle of the day had a planning meeting at Skol for the Halloween fundraiser. Late coming home to news that we received another parking ticket today because we forgot to move the car. I got a ticket on Tuesday because I forgot to move the car. I did get the car window fixed on Tuesday, as I figure it will be easier to sell or trade in if we ever get around to actively looking for another vehicle. 2 tickets in one week on top of the replacement infuriates me to the point of wanting to drive it over a cliff and never have another vehicle again. In other pleasant news Rose pulled out one of her bottom teeth this afternoon, it had been getting looser and looser all week. And Sol had another fit at bedtime as we are trying to leave him alone to fall asleep. If I lie down with him it still takes an hour, his whole body is wound up and full of energy. In weird news I had a mega deja-vu at the gallery this morning when Pip asked me about double-sided glass for the beehive entrance; it was the strangest, most vivid I’ve had in a long while. I felt that I had that very sequence play out in a dream a few years ago, it really threw me for a loop. My stress and nervousness about the upcoming show is starting to get to me. The strike and austerity measures are getting me down as well. Rose can bring a costume to put on at 15h30 at service de garde, but they are not dressing up for regular classes. Fuck Couillard, what a dick.
-chris
from chris lloyd
to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Sat, Oct 31, 2015 at 1:16 AM
subject Le PLC a récolté moins d’argent que le PC et le NPD au 3e trimestre; Police using father to try extracting beating-death confession from son was a betrayal too far: judge
Dear Stephen,
I am still alive. I survived a visit this morning from the municipal property evaluator: the first physical visit in a long, long time. Twenty years maybe?How much of a difference this will make in the taxes we pay remains to be seen. Afterwards I went back to SBC to finish with the install and lighting. Added acid-free tape to the back of banana leaves. Feel the SAD coming on. According to some brief online research, I should talk to my doctor. As you know, I don’t have a doctor, and who has time to look for one? Are you looking forward to some time off? Are you going to look for work right away after moving back to Calgary or enjoy more time at home? Can you qualify for EI? Happy anniversary of the ’95 referendum, BTW. And yeah, I fell asleep with Sol tonight, and now I have insomnia.
-chris
DEAR PM 