So, what did you think of the English language debate? I watched the whole thing — my husband went to bed after about an hour. I also tried to follow some of the comments on Twitter, though I found it a bit difficult to focus both on the debate and the Twitter feed at the same time. My multi-tasking skills were lacking last night.
Generally, I thought everyone did as expected. Ignatieff is much nicer in person — on TV he comes off as a towering scowling meanie, I think (that brow! Someone’s gotta tell him to unfurrow it!!). Harper was creepy with his refusal to look anyone else in the eye, but he got his “Look. Let’s be clear. I am very calm and speak in a somewhat hushed tone to lull you into a sense of security” style down pat. Layton had the funniest comebacks (the cane thing, the senate/prison thing, the hashtagfail thing) and was the most human of the three, I think. Duceppe’s presence is always a bit of a weird addition, but succeeded in raising some points that the others don’t dare to (partly ’cause he’s got really the least to lose, so he can afford to).
That’s my take.
I’ve got some cool things I want to write about today, so hopefully you’ll see my name in print after a seven-day dry spell (I was off for five days, then the editors decided to hold my groundbreaking investigation into snow piles in the city).
I was out at something else last night, but I caught the last 45 min. of the debate. It’s not something I would typically watch, but I’m trying to be more informed when I make my decision.
I found it very interesting. I am not a Harper/Conservative fan, or really an Ignatieff fan, so I find myself a bit more critical of them. In the 45 min. that I watched, Jack Layton was pointing out his platform and what he would do now if he was elected. Harper and Ignatieff were what they would do in the future, in 3-5 years from now. I understand that you have to build for the future, but in the next 3-5 years, we could have a few more elections.
Ignatieff took that dig at Layton about always being the opposition, but I felt Jack handled it very well. I also caught his comment about the Senate and Prisons.
One thing I was wondering about was if they have debates in each riding between the candidates. Someone told me that they don’t and I think that’s a huge mistake. I understand that essentially we’re voting for the party that we want to be in power, but realistically, we’re voting for the candidate that we want to represent us in the House of Commons. I understand that each of the candidates follow the same platform as their party leader and have, or should have, the same opinions as that leader. But essentially, my question is, in my riding, what is Joe Preston, Graham Warwick, or Fred Sinclair going to do for us in the House of Commons?
Hey!
Good observations about the debate — I agree, there wasn’t a whole lot of “what are you going to do for me tomorrow” in the debates. And it always bugs me when the leaders throw the others under the bus without talking about what they would do differently.
Rogers TV organizes debates which they air on television — including one in your riding (Elgin-Middlesex-London). That debate is being shot on Monday and it’ll start airing on Tuesday. There will also be debates in all four London ridings as well as Oxford and Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. Bob Smith, the station manager over at Rogers, is going to send me the schedule for when they’ll all air, so stay tuned here. I’ll post it when I get it.
Hope that helps! I’m with you — it’s nice to know what the local candidates are like, not just the national leaders.
Thanks Kate. I thought that there had to be some local debate. I’ve pretty much made up my mind who I’m voting for, (go orange!) but I could be pursuaded. I’ll watch this debate and maybe the Liberal candidate will impress me more than the NDP candidate and my vote will swing. Maybe not, but you never know.
One of my biggest pet peeves about the Tories and Liberals is that in their campaign commercials, they sling mud at each other to incriminate their competition. The Tories are, ‘Michael Ignatieff didn’t come back to Canada for you’, and the Liberals are, ‘Harper hasn’t done this and hasn’t done that’. Jack Layton stays out of that and gets to the point, ‘If I’m elected, I’m going to implement this and I’ll get this done’.
I was actually at a Provincial Conservative nomination meeting last night and I typically don’t vote Conservative, but I openly listened to what they were saying and tey’re position against the Dalton McGinty Government and they had some good points.
I don’t follow politics too much, but it is my civic duty to vote and I’ve recently decided that I need to be more informed when I’m voting. Hence the question about if there are local debates.