Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!! Some Canadians might be thankful there are only 8 days left before Election Day. Hope you are surrounded by loved ones around the holiday.
The English language debate was spirited. Loved having 5 female moderators. They were focused, rigid on time, and ran a smooth ship. Do that again in 4 years.
Let's go through a few observations.
Justin Trudeau vs. Andrew Scheer was the battle everyone was waiting for on Monday night. Scheer's opening rant was childish and not on point. Scheer's night got better after that. This was the debate over whether Scheer could look like a prime minister. He did not.
Elizabeth May said at this point, Scheer won't be prime minister. When Scheer denied that, May said she would lay bets right now.
Maxime Bernier and Andrew Scheer fought a long battle for the Conservative Party leadership. That animosity continued on stage. Scheer's people were worried about Bernier being on stage. Bernier didn't score well on anyone; his focus was responding to others by saying their suggestion "won't generate any wealth." Bernier might be better in French but Scheer had nothing to worry about in English.
Trudeau had a good line about Maxime Bernier and his role on the stage tonight seems to be to say publicly what Scheer says privately.
Trudeau didn't do any favours for Quebec in his takes. He challenged Singh on why he wouldn't possibly intervene in Bill 21. Trudeau might be counting on most people in Quebec to not pay attention to the English language debate.
May and Bernier agreed that no corporation above the law. Bernier was arguing this to May and she was like, I agree.
Trudeau kept saying Harper was in power for 10 years. The Liberal Party leader is rounding up from 9 years and 10 months. Might have felt longer than that timeframe.
Singh had a great line on climate change that you don't have to choose between Mr. Delay (Trudeau) and Mr. Deny (Scheer).
Trudeau had a few moments when he called Singh "Scheer." Dawna Friesen from Global tripped up on the same mistake. I don't believe Trudeau's "slips" were mistakes. A clever trick of some sort by the Liberal Party leader.
Bernier kept trying to lump Trudeau and Scheer together. When Bernier said that about climate change, Trudeau said that was the most offensive thing Bernier said.
Yves-Francois Blanchet brought up the cap-and-trade system Quebec has with California (and did have with Ontario) on climate change. Surprised that hasn't come up before. That was even better than the carbon tax.
May pointed out tax cuts didn't lead to jobs when Bernier was in the Stephen Harper cabinet.
Bernier promised a balanced budget in 2 years. 2019 isn't the year to talk about balanced budgets.
Singh kept saying that Trudeau was saying nice things. He might have overused the phrase but repetition helps debate viewers.
May said to Scheer that his 25% foreign aid cut may be the worst idea of your non-platform.
Trudeau said to Blanchet that a Quebecer is a Canadian. Felt like a callback to Trudeau's "A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian" to Harper in 2015.
The French debate was more about issues previously ignored such as data breaches, dying with dignity, and high-speed rail from Quebec to Toronto. The French debate had a significant advantage of having newspaper reporters. Having the newspaper reporters work at the end of the segments helped conclude those segments on point.
The 3-way debates aka confrontation a trois proved to be thorough and relatively polite. The French debate with the same 6 leaders met with no zingers and more polite conversation.
Jagmeet Singh played the line about how Justin Trudeau swings to the left during the election and then back to the right after the election.
Canada is a safer place for abortion though access should be improved
We learned about the closing of a private abortion clinic in New Brunswick because the conservative government will only pay for abortions at public hospitals in Moncton and Bathurst.
Patrice Roy of Radio-Canada ran a good ship as moderator. The video questions went quite smooth as opposed to the English language debate.
As part of our running series, we are posting ads from the major parties. Here is a Green Party ad.
Transparency is crucial for Canadians to decide on a dual citizen for prime minister
We spent a lot of words on the Andrew Scheer dual citizen phenomena on Tuesday. Elizabeth May has a similar issue but she has had transparency about her American past. The question we really explored was whether the United States matters in a dual citizenship scenario.
— Rick Mercer (@rickmercer) October 8, 2019
The good news is Rick Mercer weighed in on the 2019 Canada election. The bad news is that his op-ed in an American newspaper (The Washington Post) was not that interesting or funny.
Mercer mocks how the Canada election isn't subject to what is happening in the United States and the chaos of the "only official English-language debate."
He mentions the Justin Trudeau blackface photos and how shocking they were. Mercer also says Trudeau wears cute socks.
Mercer has a field day with Andrew Scheer's American identity.
"He was that unheard-of creature, an American who is either embarrassed or ashamed to admit it. This was a new one. Canada’s conservatives have always been comfortable in the closet, but this is the first time one has been outed as a American citizen. Canadians need to think this one through. What do we do in the event of a yet-undeclared American war when the Canadian prime minister is drafted and ordered to work in the cafeteria on an aircraft carrier?"
Mercer introduced a Trudeau boxing analogy that Canadians would get but not Americans since they likely don't know the boxing story. "Trudeau’s knees never buckled — despite multiple punches to the head, he seemed oblivious. It’s a skill he has always had — oblivious to blows to the head."
Canadians will feel loss of satirists such as Rick Mercer in the 2019 Canadian election
Mercer was once famous for Talking to Americans where he would mock them for their lack of knowledge about Canada. He had a chance in this op-ed to help them out, but Mercer fell short.
Mercer fell into the malaise exhibited by the more cynical Canadian journalists. "In the end, we were left with irony — the greatest thing both leaders have going for them is that their opponent is underwhelming and not particularly liked. On Oct. 21 Canadians will plug their noses and go to the polls."
One good Rick Mercer alley rant would have been a benefit to the Canadian people. This was a watered-down version not even aimed at Canadians.
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We did mention a push to have a climate change debate as part of Canada election 2019. 48,000 Canadians signed a petition in August to get the CBC to host a national climate debate. CBC declined that offer.
The University of Ottawa Smart Prosperity Institute in conjunction with Climate Action Network Canada had a climate change debate scheduled for Wednesday. That debate has been cancelled because the Conservatives said they couldn't find a MP candidate to attend.
The Liberals, NDP, and Greens signed up immediately for the debate.
This was not going to be a debate among the leaders. The Conservatives, being the opposition party in parliament, would have the equivalent of an environmental minister.
The irony was lost on the Conservatives, who justifiably criticized Justin Trudeau for not showing up for the MacLean's/Citytv debate and the subsequently cancelled Munk foreign policy debate.
Canada election 2019 debates preview
We hate to keep focusing on elaborate, deliberate lies told by the Conservatives against Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. The latest lie had a microsite and a false claim about a "secret plan to implement a tax on up to 50% of the profits on the sale of your home."
The Conservatives shared an internal Liberal party policy proposal on housing, then doctored the document to imply the source was Toronto MP Adam Vaughan, the Liberal special advisor on housing and urban affairs.
As Trudeau noted during the English language debate, the Conservatives haven't cost their platform. The Conservatives could spend more time on what they want to do instead of making up lies about what someone else might do.
2019 Canada election preview
Andrew Scheer finally released the Conservative Party platform late on a Friday before the long holiday weekend. The party waited until after the debates to reveal the platform.
The Liberals are charging that the Conservatives have $53 billion in cuts, including $14 billion in hidden cuts in the budget.
The platform also calls for slashing of research grants to post-secondary education institutions if they don't accept right-wing racist, anti-LGBTQ or other similar speakers on campus.
Not wanting to pile on but this is a bad sign for the Conservatives.
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage
The Canadian Senate doesn't come up too often. Justin Trudeau fulfilled his promise to appoint independent senators.
Trudeau has appointed 50 senators that sit in the Independent Senators Group or as unaffiliated senators. There are 58 independent senators currently in the 105-seat body (also senators that used to be Conservative or Liberal).
There are 29 Conservative senators, 9 independent Liberals, 7 non-affiliated senators, and 2 vacancies.
Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer has said he will appoint Conservative senators if his party forms government.
There have been pushes since I was studying the Canadian Senate in university for an elected Senate. Canadian senators are not elected and can only serve until they reach age 75.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said the party would negotiate with the province to abolish the Senate and would not appoint any new senators. The Green Party believes that "as long as there is an appointed Senate, an open process that invites qualified applicants is superior to the appointment of party cronies."
The People's Party of Canada believes Trudeau's appointment process is "mostly window-dressing." The Bloc Quebecois did not provide its position on the Senate.
The Senate has been marred with scandal-ridden senators such as Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, Lynn Beyak, and Don Meredith — all Conservative appointees. Mac Harb (Liberal) was also involved in the Canadian Senate expenses scandal along with Duffy, Wallin, and Brazeau. Harb was the only senator in the scandal to resign, doing so in 2013.
The independent senators haven't made negative waves.
photos credit: CBC News Network
video credit: Green Party of Canada
Twitter capture: @rickmercer
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