"We all have our Frank stories," Green Party of Ontario President Bill Hewitt said into the microphone in front of a hundred or so people. "I'm sure many of us have spent the night with Frank."

Nothing like an unintentional joke and some awkward laughter to start off a political convention.

The Ontario Green party's 2009 Leadership Convention began Friday night in London with a reception to celebrate the leadership of Frank de Jong, who this weekend ends his tenure as the longest serving Green party leader not only in Canada, but in the world.

"When I first met Frank he was drinking a beer and playing horseshoes," Hewitt continued. "I knew right away this was the party for me."

De Jong's partner Kelley Aitken spoke next, dedicating her speech to three people, "Frank, [incoming leader] Mike [Schreiner], and [Schreiner's wife] Sandy [Welsh]."

Aitken said that since the announcement of a leadership race to replace him, "Frank has been doing nothing... on the couch. He likes reruns of [Home Improvement], Red Green, Seinfeld, and Two and a Half Men." Recently however, Aitken said, he has switched to watching French television. She quotes de Jong as explaining this decision by saying, "je cherche l'esprit de Jong."

Of his successor Schreiner, Aitken says de Jong praises him as "wonderful, intelligent, interested in people, doesn't have an axe to grind, a really nice guy, and a decade and a half younger than me."

Aitken's speech also had somewhat of a roast-like feel. "I'm going to miss being the first lady of nothing much," she joked. "No seat, no gala events... and most crushing of all, no clothing allowance."

Towards the end she directed her comments towards Welsh. "Sandy, as you know politics is a family affair. The reason Green door knockers get invited in so often is that people recognize we're doing it for our families. Something has kept the integrity of this party intact. It still operates from the standpoint of what it believes, and it has grown enormously over the years."

Aitken said that she would pass her green scarf on to Welsh to wear at political events.

Green party Male Deputy Leader Shane Jolley told a story that illustrated the strength and value of Frank's ideals. "If you know Frank you know him as an idealist," Jolley said, "and sometimes I have a problem with idealists." He then told a story of trying to talk de Jong out of focusing on a specific policy, believing it wouldn't get any votes. Later, Jolley discovered that this policy was the highest priority for voters he polled in his riding. "If we loose our ideals we lose our way," Jolley concluded. "Frank has been a shining example of that."

"I think there's more revolution in Frank yet," Jolley concluded.

Finally it was de Jong's turn to talk. He opened by telling a story.

"Many elections ago we were desperate for candidates, so that the first time you spoke with them on the phone you would ask 'do you want to be the candidate?' When I called I used to ask 'do you want to be leader?'." After pausing for laughter, he said "just kidding."

Being leader of the Green party has reminded de Jong of the old Abbott and Costello joke, he said. "What are you doing up in that oak tree," one asks. "I sat on an acorn," comes the answer. "The Green party was my acorn."

"We are the electoral wing of a movement," de Jong said. "We do not control or define the movement, we are just the electoral wing. People are active all over by the thousands across Ontario, Canada and the World. It's only when we turn it into a political force through electoral politics that we can finally make a difference."

"Power does not necessarily corrupt, and power does not go away," he said. "If we don't have power, someone else will."

De Jong said that being leader "was not difficult" because he was supported by such a great team. "I never felt very much at all like the leader. We have such a commitment to our cause and our goals." De Jong then looked around the room and began to name multiple people who had put him up and supported him when he was touring the province as leader.

The outgoing leader concluded by echoing what Jolley had said about him earlier. "I'm not going anywhere. My work is not done in this party."