The most comforting thing about the federal leaders’ debate … was that at least none of the candidates for Canada’s top job came across as possibly certifiably emotionally disturbed … a la Donald Trump!
Of course, that also made the two-hour event less interesting, exciting and entertaining than many would have liked.
But true to tradition, each leader did deliver his or her pre-scripted rehearsed “zingers” … which the mainstream media faithfully, on cue, “reported” afterwards.
Yet cutting through it all, it was possible to reach some pretty clear conclusions … while keeping it real at the same time.
No doubt, in my mind, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has lost the glow, the charisma and the shiny new-product flashiness that allowed him to float above the fray in the last election.
But I felt he did score points with many voters, especially younger ones (if any were watching), through his repeated emphasis on middle class tax cuts and also his determination to tackle climate change and environmental issues.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, however, scored some pretty good blows against Trudeau … on taxes, small business breaks and especially over the firing of former Attorney General Jody Wilson Raybould.
However, the best news for Scheer, I felt, was that if there had been any concerns that People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier would steal away many votes from the Tories, that did NOT happen.
As for the rest of them … though interesting, informed and even inspiring … especially for their own supporters … they were ALL clearly just “extras” on the main stage, feeding “setup” lines to the two celebrity stars of the show.
Thursday, they’ll do it all again … in French … at 5 p.m. Pacific.
Too bad it won’t just feature Trudeau/Scheer going toe to toe, one on one.
Harv Oberfeld
(Follow me @harveyoberfeld on Twitter to get FREE First Alerts of all new postings on this BC-based blog. )
