English Leaders Debate

So I watched the debate last night, myself and twelve other people across Canada who had nothing else to do. Seriously though this was one of the best debates I have seen. Every single leader came to the table and performed wonderfully. I am not sure I could pick a clear winner.

The format was different. It was a round table approach. Quite nice if you ask me. The leaders all sat around a table and they had more of a discussion then a debate. Although the questions were still posed rebuttal time still given for every accusatory comment. It made all the leaders seem more approachable and less like soap box preachers. I hope they run with this format and use it from now on. It was by far one of the best things about the debate last night.

Stephen Harper was lambasted from all sides, every single leader at that table, which is no surprise since every debate focuses on slamming the incumbent leader. What was a surprise was how well Harper handled it. Harper was swimming in shark infested water with each of the leaders snapping at him in a feeding frenzy, but Harper sat there calmly, with an aire of being untouchable. Continually stressing that he believed the opposition parties were all extremely sincere in their beliefs but that he just had differing opinions. Harper admitted that the war in Iraq was not justified, despite his well documented support of it in the past and took the lickings from that. His major problem was that his party has yet to release an economic platform, in fact the Conservatives are the only party that has not done so. He continually dodged these accusations while continually referring to his economic platform. At various times during the debate Harper was called a fraud, and a liar. The accusations rolled off him without Harper even batting an eye. Although I do have to say to Mr. Harper "It's Laissez-faire, not Lazy Faire you goof!" As my coworker said "despite Harper having all the charisma of a rock, he did really well for himself in the debate."

Stephan Dion was barely there. He made one or two well aimed jabs at Harper that bounced off the PM, but otherwise he was just a body in a seat.

Jack Layton, living up to his name "Happy Jack" was all smiles and giggles. He scored some pretty scathing points against both Dion and Harper, and stood behind May on a few points as well. I think Jack did very well, outlining the very real flaws in Harpo's government and Dion's history of supporting the government.

Gilles Duceppe was a real shock for me. I found myself actually liking the guy. He scored some very serious points against Harper, and of all of them I think Duceppe was the only one that really and truly rattled Harper's cage. Several times Harper outright dodged Duceppe's questions. I had too laugh when Duceppe pointed out the irony in the Bloc being the party that put forward the "Buy Canadian" policy proposal.

Elizabeth May was the real winner of last nights debate in my mind though. Despite being a late entrant, or perhaps because of it, she outshined them all. She had all her i's dotted and t's crossed. She knew what she was there to talk about and she was damned well going to talk about it. She continually tossed legitimate questions at Harper, calling him and his government a fraud and then backing up her claim. She was the little engine that could last night proving all the other leaders that she was a federal party leader, not some crackpot heading a laughable fourth rate group of political activists calling themselves a party. She played well with the big boys, demonstrating how miserable Harper's plans are then backing her claims up with real trusted sources. She truly debated, one might even call her a master debater, ok I digress. Really I don't like the Green Party, I think they are a fourth rate party of political activists who have a week platform and candidates who range from silly to sincere, that being said I must say they have an extremely strong leader.

Final Call:

Winner:
Elizabeth May

Second Place:
Stephen Harper

Tied for Third:
Duceppe and Happy Jack

Loser:
What's his name, Celine Dion's grandfather, Stephan