I was probably one of the very few people who didn’t switch back and forth between the federal leaders’ debate and the U.S. vice-presidential debate Thursday night.
Seems sacrilegious, or at least un-patriotic, to watch American politics when the premier event of our election campaign is going on – particularly when the biggest criticism of one of our leaders is that he is a clone of all things U.S.
So who was the big winner? There were no real clear-cut winners, but Green Party Elizabeth May showed that she can debate the issues with the four other leaders. That, in itself, was probably the biggest victory of the night. If she had fallen flat, it would have shown that she shouldn’t have been there. She proved Conservative leader Stephen Harper, NDP leader Jack Layton and the media consortium that runs the debates, wrong.
One of the most interesting observations of the debate was that Harper never responded to any attacks that May made on him or his policies. He certainly engaged Liberal leader Stephane Dion and Layton on several issues. However, when May tied into him he usually just sat there with a goofy grin on his face. Was that the strategy perhaps? If he engaged May in debate, then that legitimatized her. Or, perhaps, was he afraid that she would be able to out-debate him and score really big points?
Who knows? Harper had the most to lose in the debate and, according to the polls, he did. He didn’t fall on his sabre, but he didn’t win any voters over either. He obviously was trying to look ‘prime ministerial,’ but often came across as smug and seemed to be annoyed that he had to lower himself to public debate.
Then he opened his mouth. I’m sorry, but tax cuts are not the solution to every problem we have in this country. And for people like me, who are seeing more money sucked out of their pension fund every month than they’re putting in, Harper’s assurance that (insert calm, father-like voice here) the economy is fine, make you want to puke.
Then there’s NDP leader Jack Layton. He scored lots of points when he pointed out that Haper’s tax cuts involved $50 billion for the oil companies. For Exxon. For big oil. For Exxon. As much as I tired of Harper’s harping on tax cuts, I got tired of Layton harping that the cuts were for Exxon. I got it about 15 minutes into the debate, I didn’t need to keep hearing it after 120 minutes.
Although, I must say Layton did score points when he hammered Dion and the Liberals for propping up the Conservatives and keeping them in power for two-and-a-half years. Dion didn’t have a response to that.
While the debate is crucial for all leaders, it was probably most critical for Dion. For a lot of Canadians, it was probably the first time they really got to see him in action. He is still somewhat of an unknown. He held his own, scored some good points, but he didn’t shine. He really needed to really excel at the debate to gain ground in English-speaking Canada. He didn’t do it. Consequently, the NDP have gained ground.
There were no big winners in the debate, but we did gain a better insight into those who want to lead the country. I agree with CBC commentator Rex Murphy who opined that we should have more than one debate and the format should give the leaders adequate time to explain their positions.