Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did a huge favour to Rogers, owners of MacLean's and Citytv. By calling the election on Wednesday instead of today, Trudeau added huge legitimacy to a debate that otherwise would have been considered outside of the election season.
Unfortunately for Rogers and Trudeau, the prime minister was absent from the stage in Toronto Thursday night. Trudeau was there in the talking points of the other participants: Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh, and Elizabeth May.
Let's examine how each of the participants handled the first debate:
Elizabeth May — May had a lot of specific answers on questions. She challenged Scheer when Paul Wells continually dropped the ball. She brought up the Chinese steel for the LNG deal. May gave praise to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland when she didn't have to do so. She had the honesty to say if you are confident about how to handle China, you weren't being straight with people.
Andrew Scheer — Scheer didn't go after Trudeau for most of the debate. Singh and May (or May and Singh) excelled at going after Scheer and were effective in their attacks. Scheer couldn't answer questions with great regularity. Robot Scheer came through in his closing statement. "Health care" and "education" were the robot mantras for the night. Scheer brought up a return to "ethics." Given the large number of Harper scandals, "ethics" is one of the words Scheer shouldn't mention.
Jagmeet Singh — Singh nodded along with the Greens but offered few specifics unlike May. Singh excelled in personal examples from constituents he met. Singh pushed through the idea of Ford Cuts in Ontario to Scheer. Singh was talking past Wells and the camera straight to seats in the GTA and beyond in Ontario.
Paul Wells — Most debate moderators try to remain neutral. Wells failed massively. Our expectations were not high and Wells still failed. Softball questions to Scheer but not his opponents. Wells would ask questions to try and trip up May (proposal to punish SNC Lavalin with community service) and Singh (LNG deal in BC) but didn't ask similar questions to Scheer. At times, he let May and Singh go on and let Scheer be silent. That helped Scheer because he couldn't respond to the attacks nor answer basic questions. Wells slammed Singh on a Brexit question to not go off-topic. Scheer then went off Brexit to China, but no reproach from Wells. May held Scheer more accountable than Wells did. Wells threw in questions that had nothing to do with the topic and picked awkward questions as if this was his fiefdom.
Citytv — As poor a job as Wells did, Citytv was much worse. The background looked faded and whiter than Scheer. Its economy segment was only business and not one of those concerned workers. Its primary panel and other panels were so rushed that quick answers with little thought were the only options. May had some microphone issues early on; Singh had microphone problems throughout the debate; the Indigenous leaders had huge microphone issues; Scheer had no microphone issues.
Things brought up in the debate I still want to know:
- May asked Scheer about whether he would revoke the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States. Would he?
- BC wineries might be in trouble over a trade deal, but couldn't tell if that was CUSMA | USMCA or some other trade deal.
- Scheer said 95% of Canadians are already eligible for prescription coverage. Twitter says that isn't close to true. What are the actual numbers?
- Is Canada using Chinese steel in the LNG deal in British Columbia? If so, why?
- Canada is 59th in the world in peacekeeping. Would like to know where Canada was 4 years ago.
The worse that Wells and Citytv did, the better Trudeau looked for not showing up. Trudeau should have been there but he did miss the train wreck of the presentation. The Leaders Commission Debates will eliminate the issue of the lone moderator by using several questioners.
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Discounts always sound good even when they come with a catch. The Conservative Party set a very low price of $11,500 for the fee to cover party leader Andrew Scheer through the whole campaign.
The New Democratic Party is charging $45,000 to media outlets to travel with party leader Jagmeet Singh.
The 2015 race was almost twice as long: the Conservatives charged $70,000 versus the Liberals and NDP at about $50,000.
A significant discount on the fee could be seen as a party contribution. The few journalists left in Canada to cover the race could be tempted to have that discount influence the coverage. Responsible journalists will not fall for the lure of a discount.
Looking back at 2015 before the 2019 Canadian election
The Green Party technically has 3 federal incumbents as the election starts. Elizabeth May and Paul Manly, who won a by-election in May, were joined by Pierre Nantel, a NDP 2-time incumbent from Quebec.
The NDP dumped Nantel because he was reportedly flirting with another party. Then we found out Nantel is running for re-election in the Longueuil–Saint-Hubert riding, south of Montréal, for the Green Party.
Nantel won his seat by 703 votes in 2015.
The NDP has had strength in Quebec stretching back to the orange wave in the 2011 election. The Green Party threatens that in Quebec and elsewhere in the 2019 election.
Constituents don't normally like their MP or MPP to switch parties in the middle of a term. Nantel is being upfront before the election starts about a party change.
CanadianCrossing.com New Brunswick coverage
New Brunswick doesn't have a federal or provincial member of the NDP in office. That isn't likely to change in the 2019 election.
The announcement of 14 NDP members in New Brunswick switching to the Green Party was a bit of a jaw drop. So was the news that not all 14 are jumping at all.
There are 3 Greens in the New Brunswick legislature.
There was a commotion involving rumours of a merger between the parties and one defector's allegations over people being uncomfortable with Singh's Sikh religion.
Jagmeet comme vous ne l’avez jamais vu.
— NPD_QG (@NPD_QG) September 3, 2019
Il est prêt à se battre pour vous, pour affronter l’urgence climatique et pour que les plus riches paient leur part.
Découvrez-le dans cette toute nouvelle vidéo où il se présente aux https://t.co/OKRCmc5M1g! 🔽 pic.twitter.com/qEVnoQeiGL
The NDP really needs support in Quebec. Bill 21 bans workers of the state (doctors, lawyers, teachers) from wearing representations of their faith (hijabs, turbans, yarmulkes) while on the job.
The party released this ad en Francaise. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is shown briefly not wearing his turban in the ad. Singh points out (in translation) that "like you, my identity is my pride. I understand every injustice and have learned to fight against them — and now, I'm ready to fight for you."
I don't claim to understand the Sikh position on covering the head and I definitely have lots of issues with Bill 21. Singh is rolling the dice presumably by giving up something of importance to him and his faith for the greater good of the party's success in Quebec.
We don't know how many (if any) of the NDP candidates in the province have identifiable religious garments. The leader is the visible entity. We will be highly curious to see if the ad makes an impact to improve the chances of the NDP in Quebec.
2019 Canadian politics preview
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage
The Calgary Flames preseason at home starts tomorrow but we don't know when (if?) George Canyon will sing O Canada for Flames fans.
Canyon, the team's anthem singer since 2014, is running for Parliament from the Central Nova riding in Nova Scotia.
Canyon is the second Conservative Party candidate for the riding. Westville, NS Mayor Roger MacKay pulled out of the federal election for "personal reasons."
Canyon considered running for the Conservatives in the Bow River riding in southern Alberta in 2015. He withdrew the nomination due to a health scare.
Former Progressive Conservative leadership race candidate Peter MacKay was in the Central Nova riding before the 2015 election, though MacKay (no obvious relation to Roger MacKay) didn't run for re-election in the last campaign. Peter's father Elmer also represented the riding.
Liberal incumbent Sean Fraser is running for the riding as well as Betsy MacDonald (NDP) and Barry Randle (Green Party).
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May ran in Central Nova in 2008 against Peter MacKay. Brian Mulroney represented the riding to get into Parliament but that was before he was prime minister.
NDP House Leader Ruth Ellen Brosseau worked in a bar and went on vacation during her initial run in 2011. So Canyon could run and still sing a few anthems.
photos credit: Citytv; Rogers Sportsnet West
Twitter capture: @NPD_QG
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