April 28 Hong Kong Canadian Immigrant Association 35th anniversay I attended the HKICA banquet held at the Regency Restaurant as a representative of the Calgary Lees' Association. There were about 700 people in attendance from various Chinese associations. There are over 150 different Asian associations in Calgary. At the event were politicians who were invited as guests of honor such as PC MLA's Wayne Cao, Dr.Gordon Brown, Theresa Woo-Paw. The Calgary MP for Calgary North Hill, Michelle Rempel was in attendance with her husband. The anniversary began with a dragon dance and drums to welcome in the new year and to bring good fortune. There was a ten course meal with entertainment throughout the evening that included singing and dance groups and of course the lucky draw for prizes.

April 24 Horticulture Class I was given horticulture to teach in the second semester. We have a greenhouse at the school. I have the students plant seedlings for annual plants and a large selection of snake, and spider plants we have propagated from cuttings. We will have our spring plant sale on June 2. I also teach flower arrangements and floral design. On Thursday, I had Lea Romanowski a professional florist and instructor from Mount Royal University give my class a demonstration on how to make corsages and boutineres. We also have a commercial chiller in my lab so I am able to order wholesale flowers and make flower arrangements for resale. The class is a real hands on course that shows the students how to run a floral business and the related fields of agriculture that includes turf management and field crops. Another project we are doing is cultivating flower gardens and vegetable gardens in the enclosed school courtyard.

Alberta Legislature In February I took a group of students on field trip on a tour of the Alberta Legislature. If you want to take of a tour of the legislature you only have to contact your MLA and they will put you in touch with their aide to organize a tour of the legislature. I contacted Wayne Cao, Moe Amery, Theres Woo-Pau and Manmeet Bhuller who are MLA's for four different ridings that have large ethnic groups and they welcomed my group to the legislature. All the MLA's turned up at the legislature to have their picture taken with the students. The students were provided with a tour of the legislature buildings, a complimentary lunch in the legislature cafe, and were introduced to the Legislature by Wayne Cao as we sat in the gallery. The members of the house acknowledged our presence by pounding on their desks to welcome our school group who was sitting in the gallery. Our groups name is mentioned in the minutes of the official government document known as Hansard. The students watched question period as the Opposition hammered the government of health care issues and the financial budget. My students who are mostly new Canadians witnessed first hand the democratic process.An interesting feature in the legislature dome are four full grown palm trees that are over forty years old that were grown from seed are living in the dome of the legislature.

Alberta Election I went door knocking with Wayne Cao five times to encourage people to vote for the incumbent MLA for Calgary Fort West prior to the April 21st election. Wayne's riding is a strange mixture of rich and poor constituents. Door knocking gives one a good feel on how the people are viewing the election. The Wild Rose Party had the benefit of Federal help which I found interesting that the Federal PC should be working in the background for a provincial party and the Wild Rose manipulation of the media made for a large number of voters voting for the Wild Rose which is extremely right wing. However, common sense prevailed and the Progressive conservatives were voted in as a majority. The progressive conservatives are by no means perfect but the sheep in wolf's clothing ( Danielle Smith) is not to be trusted. Having bet both leaders of the PC (Allison Redford) and the new opposition leader ( Danielle Smith) , Redford is the lesser of two evils. You know what to expect from Redford but she better start listening to the electorate. Calgary Fort West are fortunate to have a representative like Wayne Cao who is a model for what a politician with integrity should be like. I wish both leaders could take a page from Wayne's book and make decisions that benefit the people.