Questions at the right time and place

I woke up because of a nightmare. Something I ate? Something I read? Something I saw?

Or was my age foretelling my future? If I can read into my dream, I was confronted by members of our local mayoral team and council and we were not in chambers. They were peppering me with questions that I was not prepared for.

I stumbled. I looked around with wide eyes. I had been elected on a platform based on my words. Those words have meaning and integrity. The mayor and the federal ministers were elected by the people based on their words and their integrity.

I worry about rising prices of rent, food and gas, homelessness, bias and hatred within our communities, and crime. That’s why I exercise my option to vote; to let others deal with issues that are important to me but I, personally, cannot control.

This close dream encounter with the mayor and her council must have conjured itself because of the chance encounter I had as a volunteer at the John Munro International Airport on Jan. 30.

The prime minister was in town for three days of meetings and photo ops.

At the time that I signed up for the “special occasion” at the airport, I was completely in the dark as to why I might be needed.

As a volunteer ambassador, one offers oneself when airport administration may need help outside of staff. It is a wonderful opportunity to give back to our city, no matter what the gig.

It quickly became obvious that whatever the occasion, it was big. I had the plum job of outside crowd control on the tarmac. “Keep the invited guests together.” Like herding cattle. It is a minor power trip, but people obey others who wear brightly striped orange and yellow vests and with their arms akimbo.

Omar Alghabra, federal transport minister; Filomena Tassi, MP from Hamilton West; and Hamilton’s first female mayor, Andrea Horwath, all exited a Cargojet parked on the tarmac and walked to a dais in front of the international tunnel to the airport terminal. This was unusual. The invited guests and media huddled closer to hear the news.

And the news was substantial. Minister Algahbra announced $46.9-million investment in the airport facilities in the face of the amazing job Cargojet and other companies did throughout the pandemic.

This infusion was welcomed graciously by politicians, the businesses in Eastern Canada and the surrounding cities, towns and villages around Hamilton.

It was validation that spoke of Hamilton’s airport being the third busiest cargo hub in the nation. This was very good news for Minister Algahbra and MP Tassi. Mayor Horwath accepted on behalf of the city.

I think the nightmare began when president and chief executive officer of the airport, Cathy Puckering, invited questions from the audience.

The first question from a journalist was aimed at Minister Algahbra and it had nothing to do with the announcement. It was completely off topic and concerned missing baggage for passengers on commercial planes and what was the minister going to do about it?

It made as much sense as meeting a prospective in-laws’ parents for the first time and asking whether they have tattoos? Not the right time or place. This journalist certainly came with an agenda and it hit home. To his credit, Minister Algahbra answered the question tactfully, but he would have been within his rights to defer that question.

When someone blindsides me with a question unrelated to the topic I’m prepared for, I feel vulnerable. Watching Algahbra smoothly deflect this interloper gave me a warm feeling on that cold morning that he kept his integrity and ours. Missing baggage was a question for another day; my nightmare ended with a cold Guinness at the mysterious bar in my dream.