Rick Peterson and the Burgundy Lunch Club

Just leaving Vancouver after a terrific event with the Burgundy Lunch Club, organised by dynamic Vancouver money man Rick Peterson.

Rick has turned a friendly regular get-together into Vancouver’s hottest lunch ticket. About once a month he invites the cream of Vancouver’s media, business and professional elites to come and hear three speakers talk briefly about issues of current concern.

Today (Oct. 30th, 2009), it was Brian talking about Fearful Symmetry, followed by Vancouver Sun editorial page editor Fazil Mihlar, and BC pollster Greg Lyle, both of whom chimed in one their thoughts about the book. The turnout (50 people, plus a waiting list of another 25) was the highest the Burgundy Lunch Club has ever seen. A local bookseller brought 30 copies of Fearful Symmetry and sold out in a trice.

Rick is a disciplined chairman who keeps both speakers and questioners to time and the rhythm of the exchanges was rapid and high energy. What fun. Thanks, Rick!

Fearful Symmetry and Canadian politics

Check out Rick Peterson’s comments about Fearful Symmetry on his blog posting of 11th September. He talks about the opportunity that is offered to the Conservative Party by the kind of shifts in values and population described in Fearful Symmetry. He’s right, of course. But as I argue in the book, the founding values of Canada that I rattle on about were also for many years the bedrock values of the Liberal Party of Canada. The Tories were the party of privilege, the Liberals the party of opportunity. I don’t think the values of our founders are the property of any one party, and I think the shifts in values and political power that Fearful Symmetry foretells will shake our institutions to their roots — including our political parties.