Politics - English Debate #2
Tonight I watched the second English language debate, and it was much different than the last debate. How? Well, first of all, the structure allowed actual debate. As I mentioned in my previous post, I felt that there was a need for some time dedicated to rebuttal. This was added this go around, and it was very well taken advantage of. The leaders were asked questions by the debate taskmaster, and they would answer and then direct a pointed challenge to another leader. Then when that leader's turn came around, he would be given an extra 30 seconds to respond to the challenge in addition to answering the original question. Of course sometimes the leaders avoided directly answering an obvious "yes or no" question and opted to break out a canned political advertisement.Jack Layton was most guilty of that this time. Very disappointing as I have perviously found him to be the most intelligent and eloquent speaker of the four. Tonight he came off very poor in my opinion. I know he is getting free TV advertisement time here with the public, but it's really annoying when you hear the same line over and over "You don't have to vote between corruption and the Conservatives. There's a third option, a better choice. Vote NDP." That would have been smart to use in the closing statements. I think I'm going to consider calling him Jack "Infomercial" Layton if he doesn't go back to being his usual passionate straight-talkin' self.
As expected, the Conservative leader, Harper, didn't relent on the liberal (har har) use of the words "corruption", "scandal", and "entitlement". He did a good job of staying clear above some of the snipes directed towards him. He came off quite well I think. His answers were mostly clear and frank. For example he made no pretense that he was at the debate for any other reason than to lay out his party's platform for the public to judge. He stood behind his frequent use of the words mentioned because he says that is the governing party's record and it is a fair and relevant issue to discuss. No ranting, or rhetoric, just stating his position.Martin seemed troubled and at a loss for words at times. He is obviously under quite a bit of stress with the Conservatives so close on his party's heels. He made a minor, but funny, mistake when we said that on our west coast we have China, Japan and Australia, and on our east coast we have Australia... yeahhhh ok. I do give him credit for apologizing for his party's misdeeds and saying "Look enough is enough, we have brought out the issue, dealt with it, Gomery exonerated the government and pointed out those responsible. Let's discuss the (other) issues". He has a habit of furrowing his brow, looking really disturbed and confused when another leader says something bad about his party. It is as if he's thinking "Oh really? I wonder if my party did that..."
Duceppe. He's a sovereigntist, but at least he sticks by his guns and really believes in what he stands for and he isn't hiding anything. He made many sharp, witty remarks during the debate (although I wasn't impressed when he started shouting at Martin in French) - but the best had to be the one quoted in the image above. "The worst thing is not talking about corruption", he responded to a question about wasting time focusing so much on scandals, then paused trying to find the right words, finally he finished with "The worst thing is NOT talking about corruption". Truly spoken!
Did anyone else watch the debates? If you missed it and want the details, check these links:
- CBC analysis and commentary on English language debate #2
- CTV transcript of English language debate #2
- CBC transcript of English language debate #1
- CTV amusing commentary on the body language of the leaders in this last debate
The future of Canada was the fuel for the liveliest exchange of the evening, as Duceppe badgered Martin to describe Quebec as a "nation."
When Martin went into verbal contortions to avoid saying the word, Duceppe shook his head and pursed his lips.
With the final seconds running out on the clock, Martin finally blurted out the word, without directly calling Quebec a nation.
It was so funny, Martin looking all bothered saying "Nation... nation, I say that word all the time!", how amusing.
posted by Blight @ 12:50 AM
13 Comments:
So, who's your party of choice?
Me, I'd still vote Green! I like the idea of a liberal party, but I don't know if this current manifestation deserves my vote.
I like the idea of a liberal party...? After Mulruny (big chin guy that doesn't deserve proper spelling if I mispelled that), I was in favour of the liberals. They seem to offer a good "middle road" between the right (Conservatives) and the left (NDP).
However, I am firmly of the mind that they have to be punished. If you just let them off by them saying "oh mr citizen I am sooo sorry my party stole and wasted millions of your money", and then vote them IN AGAIN... what will they have learned? They will realize how complacent and easy to manipulate the Canadian citizenry is.
Now as to my party of choice: I have two choices, the NDP and the Conservatives. I'm still trying to decide. I have to vote this Friday since I will be out of the country (most likely) on the 23rd.
I'm leaning for the Conservatives (my captions on the illustration may have given that away) but they have not outlined the details of their financial plan yet. If they propose anything that leads to a deficit, forget it.
We should not spend beyond our means if we can help it.
Man, your picture with their quotes is hilarious.
hey, you're semi-famous!
what's next, a radio show?
I'm all for punishing the liberals, but I can't vote for les Conservatives.
I'm not going to vote anyway, so maybe I should just eject myself out of this conversation.
Cibbuano, you should really make an attempt to vote. Even if your preferred party doesn't get elected, they get some of your tax dollars in exchange for your vote. So support the platform you care about, unless you don't plan on coming back to Canada.
If I was in government I might think about fining people that don't vote. The ballot could even have a "no-choice" choice, but you should at least exercise your right. You only take it for granted because you never experienced NOT having that priviledge.
/just sayin'
I want the Conservatives to win but I may vote Green. Our Conservative rep Rona Ambrose will win in a landslide and since I am tired of both big parties, I may help the Greens by giving them my vote so they can get funding to mature in Canada. They are having some issues internally but hopefully they can get their stuff together one day.
It depends on if I can get my residency changed. The government has me in Strathcona County, and they are going to go Conservative in a big way. If I have to vote from there, I'm going Green as well.
If I can get it changed to the 'Wood, I'm going Liberal, cause then it might make a difference.
Man, I hate our voting system in Canada. BC was going to institute a system that showed some real promise, and then the provincial government killed it. Ugh.
Anyone watch the most recent French language leaders debate? I found Layton MUCH better in that one. He did the infomercial only ONCE and the rest of the time he was powerful.
Strathcona goes Conservative? I would have though NDP or at least Liberal.
Ah, it's too late for me... I checked the website. I'd have to get my registration in by the 17th, and from Australia, it wouldn't happen without paying the big bucks for Fed Ex.
I shoulda done that earlier, but I'm so removed from Canadian politics, it's like the aftertaste of a soft cheese.
Sorry I couldn't let the comment pass that the bc gov't killed electoral reform.
Although I am loath to support anything the BC government does after having lived in BC for more than three years electoral reform didn't have much / enough support here.
At the outset of the election the gov't decided that for the electoral reform to pass it needed a 60% majority. The system that was proposed was called single transferable vote and it was a very complicated mess. (BTW, SVT was chosen among a number of proportional representation systems by a committee of citizens and 'experts' -- not the gov't itself.)
In the referendum the issue only received 57% support, so it was defeated fair and square.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Conservatives sweep Alberta. All the Liberal wins were pretty closely contested.
I may vote Conservative, just to see how dirty I feel afterwards.
I think you can only properly watch the fFrench debate with translations, cuz the translators add a different spin to the words.
The system was -in theory- complex, but after watching a nice, simple, flash ad, I got it. It was a good system, and it seemed that a simple majority vote would have been enough to pass it through for a trail period. It might have ended the "swing" politics in BC, and eventually, maybe, in a perfect world.... helped us out on the federal scene. I loved it. You may have guessed.
I have no other powers.
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