Pages

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Last nights debate was a real stick in the Munk!

Last nights Munk debates featured a less than thought provoking discussion on Canada's place in the world. 

The debate became so bad, that the candidates basically yelled at each other over who panders more to the requests of the United States. 

Granted that the U.S. plays a big role on the international scene, while being located right next to them geographically doesn't help the argument against such chatter, our party leaders really dropped the ball when it came to offering ways of improving Canada's image. 

In order to properly give light to the very points that support the atrocity that was labelled a debate, I am going to list each leader and their pros and cons from last night.

Stephen Harper: 
Being the Prime Minister, we can look at Harper first. While last night gave him the chance to make amends and explain his actions or lack of, the Prime Minister played typical politics and did his best to say well nothing. 

Most of the Prime Ministers words were the repetition of the same old grey facts that have been used this entire election. Creating the appearance that all is well with Canada and that the current government offers stability. 

What Harper failed to a achieve was back any of his statements with facts. An unfortunate trend that has been common throughout this election and over the past 10 years of his leadership.

His overall appearance came off as the sane one, which says a lot in a debate that really offered no new ideas towards solutions.


Justin Trudeau:

The Liberal leader made a point of coming out of the gates strong and making reference to his father, who did a lot for Canada in terms of international affairs and sovereignty. 

I really enjoyed the respect he showed his father on the anniversary of his passing. What I didn't enjoy, was how he continuously focused attacks on Thomas Mulcair and made Stephen Harper look like a sane and stable choice! Justin at least fell into Harpers trap a minimum of 5 times last night and you know what, Harper smirked and loved every bit of it. So much so that he let him talk as long as possible without batting an eye, then calmly walked in and repeated the same Conservative koolaid facts that he has all election. What's scarier is that at many points in the debate, it actually worked. 

The audience was either paid to be there and clap for every Conservative point or were party volunteers, which was another beef I had withy this debate as it took away from the seriousness of it all. 

Justin made mention to valid points, but his attacking did nothing but further split the left vote, which helps Harper and hurts all of us!

Thomas Mulcair: 

While Mulcair had the most to lose last night, he did well in terms of rationally explaining what the NDP has done and how that will translate if they gain power. His explanations were in point, but I find he spent too much time correcting Trudeau, instead of directly beating the crap out of Harper, which further split the left vote!

Overall, I feel the Munk debates did nothing but benefit Harpers chance at a minority government survival, when in reality his party deserves to be decimated for the inaction and poor guidance they have excercized, which has inevitably hurt Canada's image on the international scene.

The leaders on the left did nothing to further build on this and instead attacked each other. Meanwhile, Elizabeth May excercized excellent fact checking and tact, but only through tweets since her presence was not permitted at the actual debate, which does a disservice to all Cansdians.

No comments:

Post a Comment