Wednesday, November 30, 2011 Orono Weekly Times - 9 SHEPHERD Continued from pg 8 both helpful and knowledgeable about how to sell the balanced budget to nervous constituents. A special presentation of the night was from former Prime Minister Paul Martin, (who sent a video message) said that during his time working with Alex on the Finance Committee and traveling across the country selling the 1995 budget, Alex knew that tough choices had to be made" Martin said, "Alex would work tirelessly to promote what was right and sometimes often hard for Canadians." Martin was the Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2002, and served with Alex on the Finance committee during that time. Ron Collis, President of the Durham Federal Liberal Association, spoke about Alex's riding contributions he said that Alex always made sure that someone was at his office during office hours, so that at no time would someone have to leave a message with the answering machine. "Alex knew that people wanted to talk about the issues, and he knew that you didn't want to be left talking to a machine." Glendys MacDonald the widow of Alex Shepherd's 1993 Campaign Manager Les MacDonald said "It was a nice thought to finally acknowledge Alex's contributions to the Liberal Party." She remembers him running for the party's nomination in 1993, during a tough time for the Party. Ms. MacDonald said that he came in wanting to help small and medium business Santa and Mrs. Claus stopped in downtown Orono late Saturday morning to meet with local children. The Clauses came to town at the request of the BIA. owners. "His time as a chartered accountant helped him understand what people were looking for in Ottawa." She said Alex knew how to talk to people, he wasn't a normal politician; he was more of "regular guy." Mr. Shepherd said he was pleased to have served the members of Durham for those 11 years and he can't stand to watch politics now, " I see a different attitude in Ottawa, Mr. Harper has been playing the one man band for too long." Alex spoke about the world economy and what was happening in Greece and Italy, "Canada isn't immune to the world economic crisis and if Mr. Harper and Mr. Flaherty continue down the path we are on we are going to be in a dangerous place." Alex also acknowledges the hard place the Liberal Party is in right now. "As a party that is in third place (with 34 seats in the House of Commons) it will be hard to engage people at the ground level, but we will be back, and the work we do today will help us out 3 years from now when the next election is scheduled." At the end of the night the Durham Federal Liberal Association presented Alex with a token of appreciation. His former House of Commons chair he sat in while serving as a Member of Parliament. Upon receiving the gift Alex quipped "Wonder if the gum is still under it." Alex said it was both a pleasure and a privilege to represent the members of Durham in Office, but as to whether he would ever do it again, Alex replied "not in these political times."