Impressions of new leader

Policy-wise, I don’t really see any difference between Stephen Harper and the new Conservative leader Andrew Scheer. However, one big difference is Scheer is far more folksy, certainly a lot more personable than his predecessor. He was also media accessible.

Scheer was available earlier this week for a 20-minute, one-on-one in our Penticton office (see Page A3). This compares with the 2015 campaign when Harper came to Penticton and didn’t even look at the media, let alone answer any questions. Obviously, Tory strategists have learned from their mistakes.

Scheer immediately commented on my collection of classic movie posters, correctly noting that Episode I was the worst of the “Star Wars” series. He spoke about his father, who worked in the newsroom and library at the Ottawa Citizen.

I met Harper in 2005 when he was leader of the Opposition. Smart guy, but he wasn’t Mr. Warm-and-Fuzzy. Over the years he did work on his image — his family photo at Abbey Road and performance of “With A Little Help From My Friends” were both good attempts. Ditto for his meeting with pop star Justin Bieber, the latter who didn’t even bother to put on a tie and jacket to meet the prime minister.

Right now, Scheer is ahead in the polls. He correctly noted that they will go up and down between now and election day.

I think if the Conservatives want to win back power, they need to run exciting candidates and not recycle the same-olds, same-olds who have lost in the past.

Lou Diamond Phillips, best known for playing Ritchie Valens in the 1987 biopic “La Bamba” has been suspended from driving for two years after pleading guilty to impaired driving. I hope it doesn’t hurt Lou’s career.

One thing I appreciate about vinyl albums is there’s a natural intermission. In the glory years of vinyl, Side A and Side B were well thought out.

My condolences to the family of my good friend Bill Coffin, who died last week at the age of 89. Bill was a regular at the Elk’s Lodge karaoke where he did justice to Sinatra songs and also played his harmonica. If you live in Penticton, chances are you saw him tearing around on a scoooter in the downtown. He was a really fun, cool guy and I will miss him.

Sting joined Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen and Elton John at a fundraiser where they closed with an impromptu version of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Sting claimed afterward that he had never heard the song before.

I don’t believe him. Does he live in a cave? The Police were on the charts at the same time as Journey. Falco was gone far too soon.

If you haven’t seen the OSO’s “Peter and the Wolf” yet, you have two more opportunities — this afternoon in Kelowna and Sunday in Vernon. Little known facts — “Peter and the Wolf” was parodied on “The Simpsons” and it also inspired John Williams’ epic score from “Star Wars.” George Lucas wanted each of the main characters to have their own song. (Darth Vader’s theme was the best.)

James Miller is valley editor for Okanagan Newspaper Group.