Over to you

This blog has been silent through the televised leaders' debates -- deliberately.

It seems to me that the best thing that pundits --  or the "commentariat," as Jack Layton described our business the other night -- is get out of the way while voters are having a chance to see what we see every day. My friend Kady O'Malley alluded to this on CBC Radio's The Current yesterday morning too: you need fresh eyes to judge what fresh eyes are seeing in Canadian politics. What's old to us is new to you. 

And as I was watching all the so-called expert pronouncements on the debate performances all over the TV and internet , I was reminded of the Olympics. You know that moment when judges  register all those marks  that show tiny percentage differences in the judging?  When you're wondering: what  are the  criteria? What are they measuring? What's with the Russian (or insert mysterious markers) judges? Did someone pay someone off?  Similarly, I've seen some earnest explanations on TV of how all this debate strategy  was complicated -- you had to understand, when someone said this, they meant this, and it fit/didn't fit with... well, you get the idea. 

What I've seen, over the past few years, is that the non-political-junkie citizens of Canada keep defying all the conventional wisdom and instant judgments of the chattering class here. Yes, I mean the folks who said that Stephen Harper would never be prime minister or that Rob Ford would never be the mayor of Toronto or the folks who keep saying that Michael Ignatieff will have to go back to Harvard after the next election because Harper's got a majority in his grasp. Oh yes, and that Julian Fantino would win by 10,000 votes in the November by-election in Vaughan. (It was less than 1,000). 

Example: Apparently (I wasn't in the Government Conference Centre), folks were mocking Ignatieff at the debates last night for imagining that he knew what a certain Mme. Paille was experiencing in her life. (Mme. Paille being one of the questioners in the French debate.) Turns out Mme. Paille did actually think he was on the mark.  This has been a recurring theme in Ignatieff's career in politics, it seems --  turning around Trudeau's famous phrase. Here in Ottawa, Ignatieff is too often written off  a nobody, or worse. Same thing for Jack Layton, who, if you'll remember, was supposed to be too sick or frail to conduct a campaign, according to conventional wisdom of early March. As I noted on Twitter last night, I hope that if I ever have to have a hip operation, that I'm well enough within a month or a little more  to spend two hours, two consecutive nights, battling my enemies standing up on a stage in front of a national TV audience. Frankly, I'm in good health and couldn't do it now. 

 Several yards away from Parliament Hill, like Stephen Harper, circa 2001-05, people take these leaders seriously. I saw it all last summer when I decided to go out and quietly watch how Ignatieff  was received aboard his Liberal Express bus tour. So did other reporters, who were less surprised than others about Ignatieff's first couple of solid weeks in this campaign. 

So that is all my way of saying that I don't intend to pronounce on the debates or tell people what to think about what they saw. And for god's sake, don't take your cue from the pollsters.   It's your turn. These leaders deserve to be taken seriously, through the unfiltered gaze of the public they're supposed to serve. So it's over to you. 

Comments

[Bobby Wonderful]

Thanks Susan. Every comment I've seen from the "professionals" so far makes me think that they watched different debates than I did. And I watched every single second of both debates.

[Bill]

Harper reinforced his negatives, not being forthright on jet costs, not looking at the other particpants and dismissing the contempt charge.

Ignatieff was better than on Tuesday but is looking better everyday.

Layton had a good couple days but will never be PM so he's ruining the strategic vote option.

Duceppe is actually losing ground if you believe all the polls.

[Cara]

Thanks for this column. I have to say I've been gobsmacked by some journalists comments about Ignatieff's performance. I was sitting on the edge of my seat in excitement; in fact, I know of a woman who has been scathing of Ignatieff but is now very excited about him.

[MCBellecourt]

Hi, Ms. Delacourt, I think that Mr. Ignatieff has done very well, considering this is his first go-'round on an election campaign--and his first-ever set of election debates. He did seem that he had the bit of the jitters in the English debate, but was more comfortable in the French debate. I think he dealt beautifully with Ms. Paille's question.

Side note: I'm not sure if you caught this yet or not, but if you haven't, you really need to see this.

http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/517010--conservatives-ask-elections-canada-to-nullify-votes-cast-at-u-of-g-wednesday

[Jim M]

If they were car salesmen I would buy from Jack Layton or Gilles Duceppe. But If I had to choose between Mac and PC guy, I would go with iMike. Not just because he has the more amenable personality but because of the many differences between their party's platforms. http://youtu.be/ntZ14BAFMyo

Apparently, the most politically sensitive topics in Canada are called "women's issues". Like abortion and rape --- women's issues. While crime, more generally speaking, is never called a men's issue, even though somewhere around 95% of the prison population in Canada are men. The Original Sin may have started with Eve, but what followed seems fair enough to describe as The Fall of Man.

[Jim M]

Show me the colour of the money.

[Cathy Payne]

I figured even running a campaign against a guy who you say has the power to lose a Security Council seat when he's not in charge just shows how afraid Conservatives are.

To the base it looks strong and killing the enemy so you never have to confront it is a right of passage. I grew up In Montreal and Bill 101 can be contentious. The bill was delivered locally AND ended up costing a store owner time and money because his Parrot at the store would NOT comply.

When a law can produce that result something is askew! I pity any Federal politican who has to answer for that. I liked that Mr Ignatieff included so many other parts of Canada who also speak French. Mr Doucette is wrong that the language stays behind a firewall. Having French as an official language helps us attract people from Africa. As they prosper those people will be smarter too.

French isn't my first language but I found more content in that debate. I taped the english translation and watched it later just to make sure. When the lady over 50 asked her question and Harper came on about his fitness tax cuts I figured she'd not feel "answered". She was 53 and when she could get her fitness tax she'd be 57 and still unemployed.

That "the unemployed want a 45 day work year" accusation from Conservatives does explain why they don't instictively know how to reach out. Gutting consumption tax while escalating work tax seems like a transfer of funds.

Consumer driven tax attention from someone afraid of a census just doesn't jive for me. If people are not seen as human they can reduce any human helping program that helps like women's shelters and immigrant centers that teach English and French. And now ending the tax rebate for the election ballot makes more sense. If there is no money benefit from physically voting the tax break goes to those who sit at home and write cheques.

Ending the vote seems to go with this strange Conservative theory that runs things. Youth voting in America are met by Conservatives who will kill for a fetus but change the red tape so the same child can NOT vote at schools and colleges. It is crazy how they treat "children" who breath VS the ones that don't. Some folks in Alberta don't approve of fitness tax either but they hate day care money too. So they vote for fitness tax. I'd rather pay for people's children and not a personal trainer.

I don't think the results this time will be so predictable.

[Rolf Auer]

Harper said in 2004, "We can create a country built on solid Conservative values, not on expensive Liberal promises, A COUNTRY THE LIBERALS WOULDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE, the kind of country I want to lead."
Harper's always saying he doesn't have a hidden agenda. Well, here's proof that he DOES.
Please vote!--@Rolf_Auer

[David B]

Susan:

This story should have full national attention ... I am quite positive Mr. Cameron will stand tall on his feet. To-days Social Media is wide open while the old fashion news media remains in the dark perhaps their hands are tied for host reasons. The time has come for news media to work with our youth not against them.

http://silverdonaldcameron.com/columns/?p=540

[Patti Devine]

Thank Gawd for some reason. I'll admit it up front, I am in no way objective because I too am a raving political junkie. I am constantly checking Twitter to see if there are new polls out. But I am very happy to hear Ms. Delacourt recommend that Canadians should make form their own opinions about who is putting in a strong performance and who is not. Case in point: I frankly could not understand what the heck Chantal H. was referring to on At Issue (The National CBC) last night. She has practically written off Iggy....saying his campaign is waning; and Andrew Coyne decided Iggy didn't have a strong debate???? Say what? I saw both debates, and I am not going to forget: "What you can't control, you shut down"....I thought Iggy was so unfairly criticized by the media for not talking enough about his platform. My gawd, it was a time to take the despot Harper to task. If he rides roughsod over the House of Commons in a minority Parliament, what the heck would we be in for in a majority situation? There was no knock out punch in the debates....although Harper surprisingly held his cool....wonder how much energy it took to controle the mean impulse. We're hearing lots about the Liberal platform.What annoys me is the power and influence these commentators can have. On that note, thank goodness for Allan Gregg whose more balanced view was much closer to reality.

Thankfully many Canadians still have the ability to think for themselves and form their own opinons. That said, few in my circle of family or friends are as engaged in federal politicsas as I am so I was heartened when two close friends responded to my Facebook post about Chantal's take on the debates....they agreed with me. But that's not what made me happy....it was the fact they were watching At Issue and interested in the election at all! And of course I was happy they could think for themselves.