Here is the “pool report” I made to my colleagues in the press travelling this week with Prime Minister Stephen Harper:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an impromptu stop in a neighborhood market to buy tea for his mother. He made this impromptu stop in between a tour of the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 2010 and his meeting with a Communist party official.
The prime ministerial motorcade of approximately 30 vehicles pulled into the Yu Garden market in downtown Shanghai. This market is similar in function to Ottawa's byward market. Small shops selling a variety of items line a two-lane street. The sun was shining; the temperature was pleasant; it was mid-morning.
Prime Minister and Mrs. Harper held hands and strolled down the sidewalk of the street talking with Mark Rowswell, Canada's commissioner of Expo 2010.
The prime minister walked on the curb-side of the sidewalk as any gentleman would when walking with a woman on busy street. (left)The Harpers appeared in good spirits, smiling and laughing. The prime minister's RCMP security detail was in close formation around him with a gaggle of journalists surrounding them.
A large crowd of curious onlookers lined the opposite side of the street from the Harpers. Shouts of “Harper! Harper!” could be heard. Prime Minister Harper occasionally waved at them as he walked down the street.
The Harpers entered the Song Ling Tea Garden. There is no door to this shop; it is an open storefront. Colourful boxes of tea lined the shelves on either side of the small shop. The Harpers sat at a rectangular table at the rear of the shop, about three metres from the front of the shop. The female proprietor of the store and Mr. Rowsell sat opposite the Harpers. Mrs. Harper pointed to some of the items on the wall. After a few minutes of discussion, the Harpers selected some tea which Dimitri Soudas informed us was for the prime minister's mother, who loves a good cup of tea.
We are informed that the prime minister purchased Oolong Tea, Black Tea, and Green Tea. The packaging says “Weisonglin teagarden”. Dragon Well is the brand of tea for all the tea but the flowering tea. The flowering tea brand is Weisonglin. The brand is the only other thing written on the tea packages other than the nutritional information.
After purchasing the tea, the Harpers emerged from the store and Prime Minister Harper made his way across the street to meet some of those who had gathered. There were at least two hundred people who had lined up along the curb.
Before Harper arrived, I asked if anyone knew who it was. The English speakers in the crowd did not know. But there was one man who shouted out that he knew and put his hand up as if at school. His name was Dimitry and he is a Canadian of Russian background who is in Shanghai working on machinery in a pulp mill. Dimitry, who is from Vancouver, correctly identified the visiting VIP as Prime Minister Harper.
As Harper began walking across the street, the prime minister's press secretary Dimitri Soudas asked the crowd if there were any Canadians among them and I directed him to Dimitry the Russian-Canadian. Harper made his way to Dimitry and the two shook hands and had a brief conversation which was inaudible.
Again: The RCMP bodyguards were in close quarters with photographers wrestling with the crowd and each other to get pictures.
After meeting Dimitry, Harper worked his way down the line of people who seemed tremendously enthused to be meeting this VIP who turned out to be the Canadian prime minister. Many used both hands to clasp his. After six or seven minutes of this, the prime minister waved goodbye, got into his black limousine and left the neighborhood.
Your right, Dave. Sometimes it's only a close friend or cousin who can tell you you have bad breath. Someone from the west has to stay on speaking terms with our cousin from theeast.