Before delving into my thoughts, I have to admit that I fell asleep for part of the debate so I may have missed something of substance (staying up 'til midnight is hard for old foggies).
One of the biggest take-aways I had from this was one of being impressed with Jack Layton. His French, which in previous debates seemed "okay", I would now rate as "pretty good". He also looked somewhat "prime-ministerial" which is huge for Layton who had previously always came off as more of a game show host.
The next biggest thing I noticed was that Stéphane Dion missed the boat on countering the "not a leader" meme. Dion knew his files and was articulate but he was the only one that was repeatedly singled out by the moderator for talking out of turn and his submission to this made him look weak. There was also a moment (only partially in the shot) where he made his infamous shrug. I imagine the Tories are currently offering a series of first-borns in exchange for the footage from the camera that might have captured this in full.
Elizabeth May's French was not strong but her performance was steady. An important thing for her was when she made reference to that fact that the Green Party wants to lower income taxes. For me and probably most of the readers of this blog, that isn't a surprise. For many Canadians it would be. The Greens are viewed as left-wing, and left-wing is supposed to mean "tax raiser". I suspect a lot of people who are just tuning in have a new found curiosity about the Greens and that is why allowing the Greens into the debate could be a game changer.
Harper and Duceppe didn't really do anything that I found noteworthy, which would mean they performed as I expected.
What did you think?
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I have reincarnated this old blog and will be following both the national as well as the local developments in the New Brunswick region leading up to the 2011 federal election.
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7 comments:
La Presse has poll results with Gilles Duceppe taking the gold, Dion the silver, and Layton the bronze. Harper won the wooden spoon, with 18% of respondents thinking he gave the best performance. Harper was also judged to be "least convicing", followed by Elizabeth May.
This is the line that stuck out for me, from Dion to Harper:
"Vous avez hérité la plus forte économie qu'un premier ministre n'a jamais eue. C'est grâce à la gestion libérale. Le risque économique, c'est vous."
I also enjoyed Duceppe calling Harper out for making fun of "subsidized artists" in English, and not willing to repeat it in French.
I saw your first quote, missed the second (must have been asleep).
I find it hard to imagine that Duceppe won the debate, although that could just because I had high expectations for him, which he met but did not exceed.
The first 30 minutes of the debate were ok, but even I had trouble staying interested past that.
Not to say I didn't watch, but I wasn't that into it.
Now tonight's debate will be a different story...can't wait to see what Palin will be wearing!
Didn't catch it. Too busy watching Red Sox nation dominate the Angels...and Mannywood the Cubs!! lol
Got the six pack for tonights proceedings, and I'm not talking about the English debate.
Btw, is it me, or is it a pretty slow news day? I mean, come on, Kilgour made headlines for turning his coat in favour of a Tory candidate for cripes sakes. What is that four or five times now?
Lib
PC
Ind
Lib
Ind
CPC
...that makes six ;)
I watched it in French, then read the Quebec media about it. The consensus is that Dion sounded very good, so did Layton. Duceppe's performance evaluation varied widely depending on who wrote it, Harper was said to be "cool", "on Valium". May was destroyed by poutine-eater.
My take: it was a waste of time. It changed no one's vote.
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