WATCH ABOVE: An Edmonton man living abroad was forced to eat his words — or in this case, his hat — after his friend became the youngest MLA elected to the Alberta Legislature. Jessica Kent has the story.
EDMONTON — “If Thomas Dang becomes an MLA, I will literally eat my hat,” are some words Ian Dalsin is still digesting, after losing a bet with his friend who is now the youngest member of the Alberta legislature.
Word of the NDP’s sweeping victory made it across the pond to the local expat living in England.
“I never would’ve seen an NDP majority coming,” Dalsin said. “A few of us at the start of the election were talking about our projections.”
“It was just a flippant comment ‘if you win, I will literally eat my hat’ and he was quite confident to call me on it as soon as the polls closed,” he added.
Ian Dalsin and Thomas Dang met through their University of Alberta fraternity. Dalsin, 24, was on his way out, while the fresh-faced Dang was just starting post-secondary.
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Last week Dang was one of 53 NDP candidates to be elected to the legislature, in a move that shattered the Progressive Conservative’s 44-year dynasty in Alberta and reduced it to third-party status. The 20-year-old computing sciences student at the U of A won the seat for the NDP in Edmonton-Southwest, beating Tory incumbent Matt Jeneroux.
READ MORE: New kids on the block: Alberta’s NDP government a diverse bunch
The election results made headlines around the world, including in London where Dalsin currently lives and had been keeping a close eye on the election from.
“I sent him a congratulations text message when the polls closed and the first thing he said to me is, ‘I hope you have a good hat,’ so I thought, I have to have some fun with it. I’ll make a good video.”
Dalsin chose a straw hat and went to work trying a few different ways of eating it. He posted a video of his results on Facebook, where as of Sunday night it had been viewed over 3300 times.
The lesson learned? Don’t make idle threats.
“I’ve learned my lesson with my choice of idioms. I’ll probably avoid ‘I’ll eat my hat,’ anything about pigs flying, ‘egg on my face.’ These can all backfire if I use them the wrong way.
Dalsin had no adverse reaction to eating the hat. Thomas Dang was not available for comment.
WATCH: Shallima Maharaj speaks to the youngest new MLA, Edmonton-Southwest’s Thomas Dang.
With files from Jessica Kent
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