Roundup: Substance-free gong show, English debate edition

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The English debate, with its much higher stakes, was no better than the French. It too lacked substance or any meaningful exchanges because they had a schedule of topics to get through, and wouldn’t you know it, they weren’t going to let exchanges get interesting or involved – they just wanted to move on. Justin Trudeau tried to paint Erin O’Toole as weak, Singh tried to paint Trudeau as unable to fulfil promises. Trudeau warned that Singh was trying to instil cynicism among progressives because he refused to acknowledge any work done. Annamie Paul kept insisting that the key to everything was to work together. And Yves-François Blanchet and moderator Shachi Kurl started getting into it, and that gave Blanchet the victim card he was looking for in the Quebec media, particularly around Bill 21.

https://twitter.com/ChrisGNardi/status/1436172199430328323

https://twitter.com/AaronWherry/status/1436142521118334983

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1436154327169581083

The fact that they are still moaning the fact that we’re in an election is getting really tiresome – but not quite as tiresome as the fact that Trudeau still can’t make a convincing case for it. He keeps trying to go hard on insisting there are huge and sharp divisions between the different parties, which is why he needs the electoral support to carry on making tough choices about the pandemic. What he won’t spell out is that he needs that support because the spring session was a toxic swamp that stalled virtually all bills for months, including the budget implementation bill for the fall economic update and all of the pandemic supports therein. The fact that he refuses to say that, for whatever “happy warrior” shtick he thinks is going to win him points, just gives the other parties a pass for their petty bullshit in the spring, and the campaign of dishonesty that accompanied it, and it just keeps him from making an actual case. I don’t get it, but clearly this hasn’t blown over.

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1436137253504536581

If you need lists of takeaways, you have plenty to choose from – CTV, Maclean’s, the Star, and CBC. The CBC also has a half-assed fact-check of things mentioned during the debate.

On the campaign trail:

  • Justin Trudeau, Erin O’Toole and Jagmeet Singh were all doing debate prep, though the Conservatives made an announcement on combatting slave labour.
  • Yves-François Blanchet has ruled out being part of a formal governing coalition post-election.
  • Gun control lobby group PolySeSouvient will be endorsing the Liberals.
  • Justin Ling delves into Canada’s problem with pharmaceutical prices, but neglects the federal pharmacare progress with the Canada Drug Agency transition office.
  • Ling also points out that Singh spent his energy in the debate attacking Trudeau without actually offering anything concrete of his own.
  • Heather Scoffield praises the leaders for coming together for a pro-vaccine message, but worries that there isn’t a strong enough vision for post-pandemic.
  • Both Susan Delacourt and Shannon Proudfoot note that Trudeau still can’t give a satisfactory answer as to why he felt it necessary to call an election.
  • Paul Wells explains why this debate format is as terrible as it is, as he lambastes the leaders’ performances in the French debate.

Good reads:

  • Trans and non-binary people who have been “deadnamed” by Elections Canada are encouraged to contact them in order to clarify their records.
  • François Legault says he’d like to see a Conservative minority because he thinks O’Toole will give him what he wants – err, except maybe that $6 billion for childcare.
  • Fatima Syed argues that we need to take the rock-throwing more seriously as far-right groups have lured anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists into their movement.
  • Matt Gurney looks at the rise of the PPC’s numbers, and sees the empty vessel of the party being filled by people who usually don’t vote being angry about vaccines.
  • My Xtra column looks at the Liberals’ $40 million promise to the LGBTQ+ communities in their platform – the only party with dollar figures attached.

Odds and ends:

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Substance-free gong show, English debate edition”

  1. Kurl is a RW operative who utterly crucified Trudeau. Salome with the head on a platter, carrying out her orders from the top. This commission should be scrapped. It is a massive conflict of interest to have a *pollster* feeding leading and hostile questions to one candidate and putting their thumb on the scale for everyone else. I am so utterly disgusted and my only hope (however fading it might be) is that it won’t move the needle much against Trudeau. The coverage of this election has been abhorrent.

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