As many of our readers know, this past Saturday Conservative Senator Gerry St. Germain hosted
provincial Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon's annual Beans n Jeans barbeque. Not surprisingly, more than a few Tories made an appearance at that shindig, including South Surrey-White Rock MP Russ Hiebert, national party council member Ray Leitch and minister's regional office chief of staff Colin Metcalfe. But federal Liberals - such as Newton-North Delta MP Sukh Dhaliwal and former South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale candidate Judy Higginbotham - were also spotted doing grin and grip exercises.

Also in attendance: Minister Falcon's past and present caucus colleagues Gulzar Cheema, Rich Coleman, Dave Hayer, John Les, Mary Polak and John Van Dongen. And there was a respectable contingent of Lower Mainland mayors (Kurt Alberts, Judy Forster, Sam Sullivan, Dianne Watts and Maxine Wilson).

Other worthies of mention included iTrend Research Group Inc. founder Chris Gardiner and Campaign Life Coalition British Columbia president John Hof. But we would be remiss if we didn't note the presence of Jordan Bateman, who rightly reported this wasn't a fundraising event. Although, as one of our correspondents observed, there were more than a few partygoers wondering what bringing 800 people together for a free event really means. Indeed.