I had a wonderful time visiting my old high school today and speaking to the students at LFA about women in politics.  It gave me a chance to talk to them about politics as a career and that support was available to them, particularly through education, skills training and networking, through organizations like the Canadian Women Voters Congress .

The toughest question I received was one about quotas and being awarded positions based on gender.  While I agree that we all want to be supported and promoted based on merit, there will be times in their lives that they will have to take advantage of any open doors and have the courage to step up to the challenge.  At their age, they have much more confidence than we did back in the 70s.

My uncle was on city council in the 70s and I remember him speaking to us about politics at careers day.  Things were just starting to open up for women and we were beginning to believe we had options other than teaching and nursing.

Daniel and I bought a 1911 house in 1999.  We have been doing our best to restore it to its original condition or consistent with the era in Vancouver.

We collected old bathroom fixtures from various places over the years and have just refinished the sink and tub.  First we had the sink and tub sandblasted, then had them powder-coated.  They look great.  We rescued the sink from scrap — and it is date stamped 1911.  The tub was from an ad in the Buy and Sell.  Yes, we bought it in about 2002 before Craigslist was available in Vancouver.