Ottawa

Will someone leak something from the Conservative Party campaign training conference already?

What? It never hurts to ask, right?

Heck, we – the few, the brave, the increasingly desperate for news journalists still on Hill duty during the soggiest dog days of the summer – have tried to get more information on what’s on the agenda using conventional methods, but so far, we’re not getting much beyond vague generalities:

From today’s Globe and Mail:

[…]Monday’s meetings are mostly for campaign volunteers and staff, although candidates and current caucus members are also invited to attend. Those in attendance will learn how to deal with social media, fundraising, journalists and direct-mail. The party’s campaign co-ordinator, Doug Finley, is expected to speak, as are other officials. […]

From the Hill Times:

Conservatives were tight-lipped last week and declined to discuss any details about their caucus meeting or training conference.  […] Dan Hilton, the Conservative Party’s executive director, who in an email declined to offer any details on the party’s training conference, said it’s closed to the media and referred The Hill Times to the party’s website for further information.
Caucus members, candidates and campaign workers on Monday will be trained about the social media, voter contact methods, fundraising, and dealing with the media. On Tuesday, the training sessions will focus on how to effectively use direct mail, community outreach and Get Out the Vote operations. The training conference is $299 per person.

Since this is purely party business, they’re under no obligation to provide any details on what’s going down behind closed doors, of course — but that’s not going to stop us from trying to find out, of course. So far, though, there’s precious little dribdrabbing out of the Marriott, other than a persistent — and reasonably plausible — rumour that the prime minister either has, or is slated to speak to the crowd at some point, and Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt’s lament over the long line at the Starbucks.

Anyway, at the moment, ITQ isn’t quite ready to stake out the lobby in hopes of buttonholing unwary participants– although that may well change by this afternoon, so they should probably govern themselves accordingly.  And if anyone out there wants to share any gossip from the various workshops, feel free to drop her a line — or leave a note in the comments. Give the opposition parties a taste of why they should be shaking in their collective and respective shoes over the prospect of going up against the most terrifyingly well-prepared political machine on the federal landscape, why don’t you?

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