Shachi Kurl can rest comfortably knowing she isn't the worst moderator we've ever seen at a Canadian debate. Paul Wells has set a low bar.
We noted that "On the English side, a pollster as the moderator is an odd choice." Kurl did interrupt more people than the Liberal leader. She didn't have control and the party leaders took advantage.
The TVA debate and the French language consortium debate had repeat moderators from 2019. By contrast, the English language consortium debate has had a haphazard history in terms of moderators. The 2019 version split the moderator duties about the reporters: Rosemary Barton, Susan Delacourt, Dawna Friesen, Lisa LaFlamme, and Althia Raj. The 2015 version didn't happen due to then Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Steve Paikin, then with TVOntario (TVO) was the moderator for the federal leaders debates in 2006, 2008, and 2011.
Pierre Bruneau (French language debate) ran another good debate. Bruneau let politicians battle but pulled in the reins once they made their point. He had a firm control on the debate. Paul Wells could learn a lot from Bruneau on running a debate but Wells' arrogance levels are rather high.
Delacourt would have been a great option. The English language debate section of the Leaders Debate Commission should concentrate on a consensus to get a strong moderator, ideally a journalist.
Kurl does receive credit for bringing up Quebec's provincial bills: Bill 21 and Bill 96. Blanchet used the question to deny that Quebecers are racist. Trudeau and O'Toole criticised (after the debate) about the question being brought up in the debate.
Bill 21 prohibits any visible religious symbols worn by people in certain key positions. The law has not made it to the Canadian Supreme Court.
The arguments about whether "Quebecers are racist" aren't as much of a concern: Bill 21 discriminates against people of some non-Christian religions and limits their ability to chose a career, especially one they already had before Bill 21 became law in Quebec. The province used the notwithstanding clause to allow that discrimination.
The debate gets little attention in the English language world of Canada. People in Quebec consider themselves a nation but Quebecers are a part of Canada.
Erin O'Toole spoke a lot about partnerships. O'Toole certainly spoke of partnerships (translated) in the French language debates but hearing the word over and over in English made more of an impact. Every federal government has partnerships with the provinces and groups of concern. Better partnerships might be what O'Toole is saying but he acts like there are no partnerships currently. This may seem symbolic but words mean a lot in the political landscape. When conservatives (and their followers) speak of the country being divisive, they mean Liberals against them.
Annamie Paul hammered home the phrase "with the greatest of respect" as a way of jumping into the conversation. While Paul did fairly well in the French language debate (she was not invited to the TVA debate), she really shined on the English language side. She name dropped, mostly targeting Justin Trudeau with mentions of Jody Wilson-Raybould.
The debates have been an opportunity for the Green Party to have a voice. Other than traveling for the debates, Paul hadn't been outside of the Toronto Centre riding. They aren't running ads. They didn't even have the platform out until just before the debates. Some in her party think Paul is the problem. The overall problem is a party that isn't focused on this election.
Yves-Francois Blanchet (Bloc Quebecois) was a rare politician who underused the time allotted. Blanchet knew that most of the party's supporters weren't watching this debate. He took time for a different question to challenge O'Toole to say in English that no pipeline would run through Quebec, as the Conservative leader had sent in French.
During the section on Indigenous questions, Blanchet hammered the analogy of nation to mean Quebec as opposed to the Indigenous people. He was playing chess in a checkers match, knowing what will make headlines in the French language coverage.
One nice note: a couple of times, Blanchet couldn't figure out how to translate a phrase into English, such as "social housing." Several voices, most notably Paul and Trudeau, helped Blanchet with a translation. Yes, they are debating each other but kindness in the moment is something worth noting.
Jagmeet Singh (NDP) used a lot of personal examples from people he met through the campaign. Singh is the only major party leader using this tactic.
The format of the English language debate worked against Trudeau because responding to the charges thrown at him wasn't a part of the format. Don't remember previous English language debates being this slanted. The French language debates didn't have this issue. The 2019 English language consortium debate was a lot better.
The Justin Trudeau boxing story with Patrick Brazeau in 2012 was a highlight in Trudeau's 2015 run and even picked up in the United States. Trudeau brought back that boxing spirit with Yves-Francois Blanchet about always being a Quebecer during the French language debate.
Trudeau had gone after Blanchet in the TVA debate though with lighter punches. Some had argued that Trudeau might have had this in his back pocket to use during the debate. That is often what politicians do in debates.
The O'Toole translator hit a precise tone with the emphasis that O'Toole has a plan. Having a plan is the minimum but O'Toole played up the existence of the plan as being enough to take on the Liberals.
To no one's surprise, Annamie Paul was treated as an afterthought on most questions. Paul pointed out the fact that she should speak on daycare since she was the only mother on stage. No one expected Paul to be on the level of Elizabeth May: no potential Green Party leader could be. May's ability to call out the other leaders was desperately missed in both debates. Paul needed to be stronger, more forceful in style because she hasn't had much coverage, isn't running commercials (of which we are aware) and wasn't invited to the TVA debate.
Patrice Roy of Radio-Canada did a reasonably good job as a moderator. Roy's choice for an opening question was disappointing. The premise of a prime minister or potential prime minister promising in a debate for a minority government to stay around for 4 years is an asinine question. Most of the leaders took that as an opportunity for an unofficial opening statement. Erin O'Toole said he would, which is a terrible answer and showed the only value in asking the question was getting someone to bite.
Noémi Mercier (Noovo Info) served as the transition for audience questions. The questions were asked remotely. The most charming was an 11-year-old boy asking about the climate crisis. The format had the other journalists to pop out and ask a bunch of random questions and then to disappear.
Hélène Buzzetti (Les coops de l'information) stood out but in a poor way. Buzzetti's asked normal questions in a normal tone to Trudeau, O'Toole, and Blanchet. Her questions to Singh and Paul were more condescending from a financial perspective. Somehow the deficit would stop a guaranteed income (Paul) and Jeff Bezos living in the United States (Singh). Amazon operates around the world and can be taxed, regardless of where the CEO lives. The deficit and debt are notable but financial priorities can be shifted. Be condescending to all or none.
The other reporters who asked questions were Guillaume Bourgault-Côté (L'actualité), Paul Journet (La Presse), and Marie Vastel (Le Devoir).
"Unlike the Liberals, who are promising to allocate funds specifically for mental health under a proposed new Mental Health Transfer, the Conservatives say they would encourage the provinces to fund improved mental health services using the extra money in the Canada Health Transfer."
We had high praise for Erin O'Toole on his take on mental health. O'Toole pounded home the point in the French language debate that he had a plan. Now we know that the mental health plan is "take some of this money with no strings attached and please spend some of that money on improving mental health services." Whatever you might think of the Liberals plan, they have a more viable plan than the Conservatives have.
We don't doubt for a second that O'Toole has a sincere concern over mental health. The problem is that O'Toole is in charge of a party that won't back up what he says on the campaign trail on a lot of issues.
Andrew Scheer didn't come across as sincere in 2019 and that was before the controversies over not being an insurance broker and a surprise dual citizen with the United States. You can imagine a focus group determining that the problem is the sincerity of the party leader as opposed to improving policies.
No one would have blinked if the Conservatives had ignored mental health in the campaign. Having a hollow promise knowing you would never follow up on that promise is far more cynical than not caring about a topic, especially one so ignored as mental health.
In the ongoing saga of something you wouldn't see in the United States, here is a video of the party leaders agreeing on one essential issue: get vaccinated. The Canadian numbers for those fully vaccinated and those with one shot are much better as compared to the United States.
When we talk about the highly conservative nature of Canadian journalism, Rebel Media doesn't even enter the conversation for a few reasons. There is enough to focus on from outlets that try to maintain that they are doing journalism and have more visibility. As bad as we think they are, Rebel Media is further down the path.
Trudeau limited his remarks to the misinformation on science and the pandemic, but he could have gone further on Rebel Media.
Canadian party leaders take questions after the debates, something that would be shocking if U.S. leaders would do so. This is a nice tradition for Americans to steal from Canada, like outdoor NHL games and Kraft Hockeyville.
"First, he (Erin O'Toole) said during an unofficial French debate on TVA, the Quebec-based broadcaster, that he would 'maintain a ban on assault weapons.' While he didn’t make it immediately clear, he didn’t mean Mr. Trudeau’s ban. Instead, Mr. O’Toole was referring to a ban that dates to the 1970s on weapons like fully automatic rifles."
"But eventually Mr. O’Toole said that he would keep Mr. Trudeau’s assault weapon ban in place if the Conservatives take power. But that came with a significant qualifier: Mr. O’Toole also promised that a group that will include gun makers will review firearms laws and regulations."
We saw this pattern when O'Toole was talking about matching the climate crisis numbers from Paris, referring to older numbers that won't produce as significant a change as the numbers everyone else is using.
Since a lot of Canadian journalism is on the surface where numbers aren't checked, the words, the promises mean even less than what a politician usually says. One thing to break a promise; another thing to try and trick people about what you are actually promising.
We ran a notebook item in our CFL coverage on Friday on Canadian athletes who crossed over into politics. The CFL games on TSN are filled with Canadian election ads. Still trying to figure out how Howie Meeker served in Parliament while playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
We noted this week that This Hour Has 22 Minutes will have a single new episode before Election Day. That episode airs in about 60 hours. The single episode is 1 more than what Tout le monde en parle will air. Season 18 of Tout le monde en parle won't premiere until September 26 on Radio-Canada.
The French language debates are a good way for party leaders to connect with Quebecers. Doing well on Tout le monde en parle can do what the debates don't show: a more human side to a party leader.
Justin Trudeau (Liberal) feels at home. Jagmeet Singh (NDP) has done quite well. Even Andrew Scheer (Conservative) did well on the program in 2019.
Stephen Harper was famous for refusing to go on the show. Host Guy A. Lepage did interview Erin O'Toole back in December 2020 though not in front of the usual studio audience. The Conservatives could have used a performance, a good performance from O'Toole.
Tout le monde en parle normally airs Sunday nights on Radio-Canada, the CBC French-language channel: CBFT, Channel 2 in Montréal.
This story is about a year old but the details have not changed. Only one major party wants to take knives to the budget of CBC television in English and CBC News.
We've seen CBC News cave to the Conservatives over these perceptions. Vassy Kapelos of Power & Politics definitely has a bias. The Party Lines podcast has been extremely gracious to the Conservatives in this election.
We have talked extensively about the right-wing bias of Canadian journalism from the Postmedia newspapers (majority of the money from U.S. hedge funds) to the private TV networks. CBC News may not be your cup of tea but one of the few tides trying to be remotely neutral.
You could argue that Erin O'Toole and the Conservatives throw this out to satisfy the base. The problem is two fold: a) the actual history of deep CBC cuts under Stephen Harper and b) the impact on CBC News from constant complaining and the reaction to try and appease them as a sacrifice to Canadian journalism.
The Conservatives go out of their way to say no cuts to French-language programming or news.
Federal party leaders health care promises are limited since provinces control how health care is distributed. This proved intriguing since in the TVA debate, the talk of giving money to Quebec without strings, especially by Erin O'Toole. Money for health care should go to health care.
The Backbench podcast, which we referenced in our election preview, has an excellent episode on the difference between health and health care. Federal parties are limited in what they can do about health care. Also, the magic hiring of doctors and nurses need additional steps besides wishing for them to appear.
Canada Votes: Face to Face was the most compelling new use of television in the 2019 election. Rosemary Barton moderated while 4 undecided voters got to ask questions one-on-one with a federal party leader. The segment returns starting tonight and runs through Wednesday at 8 pm Eastern on CBC News Network and the CBC digital platforms. The segment is repeated on CBC television at 11:30 pm local time.
We were a bit critical in 2019 where Jagmeet Singh and Elizabeth May got much tougher questions than Andrew Scheer had. Otherwise, we got more human answers from party leaders. The 2019 version had 5 undecided voters while the 2021 version has 4 undecided voters.
Your humble narrator recalls watching the episodes on YouTube in 2019. Canadians are getting a free preview of CBC News Network all this month. Canadians can stream the news channel on CBC Gem, the CBC News app, or through the provided link.
The order for 2021 is Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, Green Party. The order for 2019 was Liberals, Conservatives, Green Party, and NDP.
photo credit: CBC News
Twitter captures: @canadian_xing x2; @AnnamiePaul; @Ben_Parsons__
