The Best Laid Plans

Episode 1

Here's the Deal

44 mins

If the scuttlebutt is correct, the imminently announced Canadian federal election will be the fourth such in six years, each a minority government, each government which has not been able to function, triggering each subsequent election. Daniel Addison, who has a Ph.D. in Canadian literature, has been the head speech writer for perennial opposition leader George Quimby for five years. This was Daniel's dream job when he first started. At that time, he was committed to the party, as he was committed to his girlfriend, Rachel Bronwin, who also works tirelessly in the upper echelons of the party. But leading into this next election in the fall, Daniel, for a variety of reasons, decides to leave the job, the party, politics, and Rachel and their associated apartment, to accept a position as associate professor at his alma mater, the University of Ottawa, in the English Department. One of the primary reasons for the change is not being able to work under George's chief of staff, Bradley Stanton, whose sole job as he sees it is to get George elected Prime Minister at whatever cost. As Daniel moves into the Orléans neighborhood into the guest house of recently widowed and soon to be retired U of O Engineering professor Angus McLintock, Daniel is persuaded by Bradley to do one last job for the party, namely find a candidate to run in that riding of Cumberland-Prescott and manage the campaign in the next election, so that wildly popular incumbent, Eric Cameron, will not run uncontested for the governing party. Daniel agrees partly because he finds Eric is, in his own words, just a little "too good to be true" to be completely what he appears on the surface. But finding a candidate, leaving the party, and leaving Rachel aren't as easy as Daniel would like.