Canada’s Debate

Some quick hits as I am watching and listening to the debate, colour coded by party. I wish I had started this right at 8pm, but I was playing Scrabble with my grandmother. Ok, I’ll have detailed responses to the debate tomorrow.

8:53 - Jack Layton needs to stop sucking Ed Broadbent’s cock on national television. Seriously, this borders on the absurd. He’s trotting out good old Ed every chance he gets, and all he’s accomplishing is reminding people that he remains an unknown quantity as a party leader.

8:57 - Jack Layton just answered a question about parliamentary decorum by saying his party has more women. Where is he going with this? Either he’s completely off base, or he’s suggesting that women are by nature more respectful and docile… and he’s being an ass no matter which is the case.

8:58 - Good god, Paul Martin just agreed with him that women are more pleasant. My hat is off to you sir.

9:03 - Gilles Duceppe could actually successfully lead a legitimate national party. In spite of the fact that his english is atrocious and he’s kind of smug, he is by far the most informed participant in this debate, and has the most details (even if one or two has been wrong so far.) It’s sad when someone who has no interest in governing the whole country has a better understanding of the Constitutional imperatives regarding the distribution of jurisdictions.

9:14 - “I call it like I see it.” Man, when did Canadian politics officially become an exchange of aphorisms? Before we know it we’re going to get a rehash of the latest Survivor, with everyone speaking like they’re their characters in a shitty Texas football movie.

9:17 - This moderator needs to stand up and actually cut people off, instead of cutting of the microphone, which doesn’t work when there are four mics.

9:19 - Coming to the defense of Mr. Dithers… the last question which was asked was how cutting the personal income tax instead of GST would help disabled Canadians. The answer is that it won’t. Cutting the GST wouldn’t make much of a difference either. Every single economist or tax expert (not lobbyist) has gone on record as saying that consumption taxes are substantially more efficient, and that Harper’s plan makes no economic sense. I feel pity for someone who is disabled and unable to work, but sentimentality has no place in this discussion. More to the point, cutting the GST won’t alleviate poverty because if you’re poor and paying GST, paying a little bit less GST won’t lift you out of poverty.

9:23 - Hey hey, Jack is backing me up. Good on him. Too bad he’s still got that ’stache.

9:25 - Damn, since I started making notes, Harper hasn’t said anything I can really ream him on.

9:26 - Where did Duceppe get his english coaching from? It sounds like he’s doing an impression of a francophone comedian making fun of anglophones.

9:30 - Uh, Gilles, there are some substantial differences between Europe and Canada. In the province of Quebec less than half of the population considers itself part of a sovereign nation.

9:31 - Hoo boy. Did Stephen Harper just say that many (if not most) of sovereigntists in Quebec aren’t really interested in Sovereignty, but are just upset at the Liberals. If there’s no fallout from that gem, then I’ve lost all respect for that political movement.

9:34 - Damn, he did it again. Blaming sovereignty on the Liberals may score some political points in his own party, but I can’t see it getting much traction elsewhere.

9:36 - Man oh man, who does Paul Martin think he is fooling? I actually laughed when Duceppe looked at the camera. Every single time Martin opens up his mouth I lose that much more respect for him.

9:37 - Good strategy from Layton here. Pressure Martin to admit that his party was mistaken in trying to “purchase” Quebecers loyalty.

9:40 - Western Alienation? Yeah, it’s about time we stopped giving them representation in proportion to their population. How foolish are we in not treating them like they’re special. You can’t rail agains the “demands” of Quebec, the East Coast, Ontario, etc. and at the same time say “well where’s our cut?”

9:41 - Here’s Harper’s chance to shine. Ok, so his “political reform.” Fixed election dates has what to do with Western Canada? I’ll give him a C+ in this response. Ok, but he shouldn’t just take western votes for granted.

9:41 - So, all we have to do is elect NDP MPs? Nevermind how they’ll go about bringing “the West” into the process, simply voting for them is enough. Ingenious.

9:47 - Good, I’m glad this moderator brought it up. Federalism has been essentially unhinged in the last three years and there are no easy answers… which of course doesn’t stop politicians from trying.

9:47 - I was desperately hoping that Harper would take a hard stand here. The key would be to start reigning in deals that establish unbalanced federalism… but that would cost him votes, so he won’t.

9:48 - Talk about your softball questions. “What’s your vision?” What the fuck are we debating, which of these four politicians spends the most time daydreaming? No. Without saying how they plan to achieve certain goals, projections like these are useless and insulting to an informed political debate, and I can’t begin to describe my disappointment in the planners of this debate for letting this question close the proceedings.