There was another Conservative leadership “debate” yesterday near Ottawa, again “debate” used loosely as it was more of an audience Q&A, and the candidates did not actually debate one another, but gave 30-second soundbites. Ten of the twelve were at the event, nine on stage – Kellie Leitch leaving early for an unspecified reason (later revealed to be a break-in in her garage at home) – while Steven Blaney and Also Ran couldn’t make it. Very little of actual substance was again put on display – Brad Trost doesn’t believe in climate change, Andrew Scheer thinks we pulled out of the War on Terror, Maxime Bernier basically shouted “Freedom!” for every response (okay, not quite but close), and Chris Alexander claims he respects the media – but we are still in a space where it’s difficult to get much differentiation between them because the field remains too crowded. There are way too many candidates in the race, and as far as I can tell, many of them are there for vanity or ego, and hopefully they’ll start to fall away because they’re not offering much. I think there’s also too many people clamouring for policy when what they should be looking for is direction. Policy is supposed to come from the grassroots, but leadership needs to be about where the party is headed, and the tone by which it’s going to get there. Some candidates are offering direction, some are offering tone, but right now, it’s hard to see the wheat from the chaff.

https://twitter.com/scott_gilmore/status/797925619279478784

https://twitter.com/Scott_Gilmore/status/797926534787043328

https://twitter.com/Scott_Gilmore/status/797927707476561921

https://twitter.com/Scott_Gilmore/status/797928913959686144

As for Leitch, she is now playing the victim card – accusing other candidates (and to a certain extent the media) of calling her a racist and apparently by extension of the Trump comparisons – which she vacillates on whether she’s actually promoting – of apparently groping people, which is bizarre. And with the break-in at her home, the implications that she is being targeted. So we’ll see how this particular tactic – and make no mistake, that’s what it is – will get her.

OPP say there was a call for an alarm at a the home of a local politician in the Creemore area, but it was not a break and enter. #hw

— Katie Simpson (@Katie___Simpson) November 13, 2016

https://twitter.com/laura_payton/status/797971156166918144

Here is @KellieLeitch's version of events. #hw h/t @HannahThibedeau pic.twitter.com/Z4vIi99L8k

— Rosemary Barton (@RosieBarton) November 14, 2016

As for those people who have decided to take out party memberships with the express purpose of ensuring that Leitch doesn’t win, I can only urge caution, because there is some very difficult math at play here. Kady O’Malley said it best on the Sunday Scrum yesterday morning (around 6:55) – you can’t treat this leadership contest like an American presidential primary, as doing so is like “playing backgammon on a chess board.” It’s not simply a numbers game as it’s not one-member-one-vote. It’s a weighted system where each riding is awarded points, designed so that the populous ridings on the prairies, which favoured the Reform/Alliance party, wouldn’t swamp the less populous ridings of the East, where the Red Tory base largely resided, back when the party merger happened. Add to that, it’s a ranked ballot, so second choices will matter in the end, and depending on how many remain in the race by the time the vote happens, it could matter a lot. If urbanites concerned about Leitch’s rhetoric all took out memberships to vote, they may not have enough points to outweigh the rural ridings in the final tabulation, so be aware that it’s not a simple contest to game.

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/797081614631260161

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/797083091726716928

Good reads:

• Today Justin Trudeau and several ministers are meeting with international billionaires in the hopes of bringing investment to Canada. (More from Paul Wells).
• Canada will make a three-year peace operations engagement in Africa, but we’re still fuzzy on the rest of the details. Or maybe not, given the backtracking.
• Apparently the RCMP had enough evidence to charge Nigel Wright, but chose to let him testify against Senator Mike Duffy instead. (Documents here).
• The Liberals are tabling a bill to repeal some archaic sex laws that largely targeted gay men.
• Here’s a longread about the early days of the gong show known as Shared Services Canada, and how it was basically sabotaged out of the gate.
• Aaron Wherry looks at previous doomed electoral reform efforts in this country.
• Michael Petrou argues why Maryam Monsef’s birthplace revelations don’t really matter.
• Chantal Hébert notes how Trudeau’s entire cabinet has been “traumatized” by the Trump victory, and how it forces them to play the long game in US relations.
• John Ivison notes Kellie Leitch’s attempts to tap into Trumpism, but notes that she lacks his “populism, narcissism and conceit.”

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at MPs who are young fathers, and how they have their own challenges in political life.