"Ottawa has changed you, Mr. Harper." — translation of what NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said during the French language debate on October 2.
This was an intriguing line, one of those political lines that is corny but when often repeated, starts to catch on.
The line doesn't quite work like it would in the U.S. since even before Stephen Harper was prime minister, he was an MP in Ottawa. Power has changed Harper as it does any prime minister. The voters get to decide whether that is a good thing on October 19.
---
With the apparent loss of the English language broadcast consortium debate, we lost the last chance to hear about a number of issues in English. How the Senate scandal avoided being covered in an English-language debate is beyond comprehension, though the scandal did come up briefly. The Senate scandal was covered a bit in the TVA French language debate but deserved a lot more debate questioning.
This also was a problem for both Mulcair and Justin Trudeau, who should have brought up the scandal. Elizabeth May would have had a chance to do so in the English language broadcast consortium debate.
We have expressed anger and frustration in a number of areas in this blog, mostly hockey schedules. But the anger we feel for the cancellation of this debate is about as furious as we've been on any subject.
Stephen Harper wanted the English language broadcast consortium debate to be irrelevant. Tom Mulcair did his best to make it disappear and give Harper a gift that he never thought he would ever get: an outright cancellation of an English-language debate that would have reached a broad audience (despite awkward scheduling).
Mulcair made the move based on doing well in the early polls of the campaign. But in the longest campaign that anybody can or will remember, the Orange Wave has lost some momentum, especially in the national polls. If Mulcair and the NDP lose, especially to Harper, this will go down as a key, gigantic mistake.
---
I watched the CPAC version of the French debates online. The translation was difficult to follow at times since using the same voice for several people was difficult to follow. The high-pitched female voice did not help either, but that could be my own personal bias against high-pitched voices.
Live translation is not easy especially for someone whose French is not stellar. We got the idea of what people were saying, and that is the primary point.
We are very thankful for all the English language translations for all the French language debates, including part of the Munk Debate. Unfortunately, as much as we love listening to debates, most of English Canada likely tuned out what the leaders said in French on those nights.
---
Turns out C-SPAN 3 carried the Munk Debate on several days tape-delayed. I saw it on the schedule on Friday after the repeat had aired. The French debate with English translation might get a viewing on one of the C-SPAN channels after all.
---
I don't honestly know which party Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi belongs to, but you do get the feeling that Nenshi would beat out the federal party leaders if he were in the race.
Nenshi is not likely a Conservative, especially with his stance against the Conservatives on niqabs during citizenship ceremonies, calling the politics "disgusting" and "unbelievably dangerous stuff."
Conservative minister Jason Kenney retaliated online by attacking people like Nenshi, noting in an interview that "it seems to me that it's the mayor and people like him who are politicizing it."
Some understandably wondered if Kenney was speaking to Nenshi's Indian heritage. Ironically, Kenney is minister of Multiculturalism as well as Defense.
#PeopleLikeNenshi developed as a Twitter hashtag to mock the minister's comments.
Nenshi is certainly paying attention to the federal campaign. His collections of tweets from the Globe and Mail debate are worth reading.
We don't know whether Nenshi will ever consider federal politics. But Nenshi is likely more popular than any of the major federal party leaders.
---
The Trans Pacific Partnership is as much of a symbol for the 2015 federal election race. Harper pushed this through to have a paper victory before October 19. Mulcair jumps out steadily against what Harper has proposed, noting that a lot of this is secret. Trudeau isn't quite sure where he stands, but we'll know soon.
You can apply these patterns to a number of areas in this race.
Comments