An MP plots to open people's minds to others
Our Friday nights have certainly changed since the coronavirus slipped out of China and coiled itself around the world. With restaurants, cinemas and bars shut on-and-off throughout this awful year, our socializing and entertainment options have winnowed to Netflix, and not much else.
Nor has our work life diversified much either, for those of us still fortunate enough to be working. Most days are now an endless procession of video conferences punctuated by children bursting in to have a moan about how bored they are. Tell us about it, kid.
The mere fact, then, that I'm a few pale ales in on a Friday night video conference is a testament to the evening's host: Mike
Lake. The 51-year old, five-term Conservative MP for Edmonton-wetaskiwin has taken to convening what he labels “Zoom Happy Hours” to stay connected to the people in his Rolodex. Every Friday, he invites eight to 10 people from different professional, personal and geographic backgrounds to chat about ... whatever, really.
It makes for a great chat, even after a long week filled with nothing other than Zoom. Where else do you get the chance to speak to a current MP, journalist, Olympian, small-business owner and the heads of major charities all at one time? The odd celebrity has even been known to make an appearance. And they're not just for the “elites”; the calls typically feature one of Lake's constituents (although sometimes the constituents themselves are well-known, as is the case with former CFL great Adarius Bowman), alongside one or more of Lake's (or his colleagues') staffers.
“We do try to ensure we have some diversity, in terms of life experience and political views,” Lake offers. “This creates opportunities for everyone to shift, or add to, their perspective, which is so important for personal and collective growth.”
The first rule of Lake's Zoom club is you can talk about Zoom club, but you can't harm anyone using any information or insights gleaned from it. These guardrails help keep the discussion flowing among any ideological opposites, no small feat when so many now refuse to engage with those holding different opinions. In the few Zoom Happy Hours I've done, we've broached hot-button issues like gun control, religion and politics without anybody short-circuiting their screens.
Lake clearly enjoys connecting people he thinks would benefit from an introduction. There are even rumours of future professional collaborations coming out of the calls. He's an adept host, always keeping the conversation flowing. “I enjoy the moments when someone feels comfortable to open up and share something personal,” he explains. “I enjoy watching the expressions on the faces of others as these stories are told. I enjoy the ease with which people communicate when they feel safe, even with people they just met.”
The calls afford a valuable opportunity to drop any partisan armour. “We're becoming increasingly trapped in social media echo chambers,” Lake warns. “As helpful as some labels can be to help us understand the world around us, we forget that our labels, particularly our political labels, are just constructs. We are all human beings first.”
If that view doesn't sound particularly “Conservative” to you, that's partly Lake's point. Most MPS aren't caricatures, even if they might play one on TV or social media. But they are becoming more tribal. It wasn't that long ago that working across the aisle and a willingness to engage in good faith debate were the norm, not the exception.
That's why Lake is focusing on connection. “I love knowing that relationships are being initiated in these meetings that will ultimately have real impact on people — both the people who are meeting for the first time and the people they are working to help.”
The million-dollar question is whether Lake can turn his Friday night microcosm into a bubble that envelops Parliament, a bubble that values open-mindedness, charity and empathy over bias, attack and apathy.
Alas, once needles go into arms and the coronavirus recedes, I worry we'll return to our partisan chicanery as quickly as we'll swarm back into our restaurants, cinemas and places of work.
Andrew Macdougall is a London-based communications consultant and ex-director of communications to former prime minister Stephen Harper.