Last week I once again attended Frank McKenna’s Annual Golf Networking Tournament at Fox Harbour, Nova Scotia.
This “gathering of the clans” features ‘anyone who is anyone’ in Maritime business along with a few of us Maritimers who are making careers ‘from away’.
In addition to the opportunity to connect with very successful business leaders we are treated each year to a superb dinner speaker. This year Frank arranged for Tony Blair to share his thoughts about current issues. While I am not at liberty to write about his comments, because this is all off the record, I can say that he covered a variety of topics from the economy through to his thoughts on the Arab Spring and Middle Eastern politics.
It won’t surprise readers who follow politics, that Blair was generally hopeful that over time more freedom and democracy would be introduced throughout the world. While perhaps not as colourful and candid as a George Bush, another past speaker, one could not help but to be impressed with Blair’s understanding of world politics and the types of considerations that motivate politicians from all countries.
Blair was travelling through Washington to Australia to continue his well known personal efforts to promote Middle Eastern Peace. His side trip to Nova Scotia was the first time he had visited Canada since the Halifax G7 conference. Frank had once again put on a very successful offsite – I hope they continue because it’s great way to gain global insights in a world of increasingly localized concerns.