Stark differences show Canadians have plenty of choice
I’ve covered Parliament Hill for nearly 20 years. I generally find election debates a bit hard to judge in the moment — four leaders (sometimes more) speed-running through a few dozen issues in two hours, no one permitted to speak to any one thing for more than 45 seconds at a time.
This one was at least slightly less chaotic than previous versions. I imagine all four party war rooms will feel like their guy did OK, had their moments and got their planned points across.
The conventional political wisdom is usually that it’s the clips — the little comments and exchanges that get replayed tonight and tomorrow — that matter. So we’ll have to see what both the parties and the TV networks latch onto.
Strangely, the fieriest comments might come from NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh when he felt Patrice Roy, the moderator, wasn’t giving him enough time.
I won’t pretend to know who won tonight (particularly because I’m an anglophone), but I think these two hours might have at least reinforced the fact that there are some pretty stark differences across the parties — on how they view the Trump challenge, how they handle questions involving resource development and climate change, how they view the role of government, and so on.
