So, the first French debate, and the only one where we’ll see five leaders all on the same stage. It wasn’t a dumpster fire, but it had its trying moments. Not twenty minutes into it, they got into the tiresome niqab debate, of which Justin Trudeau had the clearest and probably best statement, saying that we don’t accept it when men tell women what they can and can’t wear. There was also a ridiculous segment about the Senate, when it got compared to a vestige of our British colonial past (it’s not – the Senate of Canada is actually a wholly unique institution in the world), and Gilles Duceppe dropped the republican gauntlet in calling for an end to the monarchy, and saying an independent Quebec would do so. (Never mind that Quebec’s foundations are actually pro-monarchy, in part because it was the Quebec Act and Royal Proclamation that protected their language, culture and post-France turning the colony over to the British). Harper was pretty laid back in this debate, Mulcair easily nettled – particularly when Trudeau went after him on the bulk water exports issue. Trudeau was more evenly paced and not frantic this time around, Elizabeth May not overly memorable other than calling out the niqab debate as a distraction, and Gilles Duceppe, was as wily as a fox as ever. Here’s Kady O’Malley’s liveblog, while here’s the CBC recap. The Ottawa Citizen gathered four experts to react to the debate.
@journo_dale @stephenfgordon Either 6 or 8%. Been on a declining trend under Harper, if I recall .
— Jen Gerson (@jengerson) September 25, 2015
https://twitter.com/inklesspw/status/647212971484033024
Why does nobody ever say: "We put all our eggs in the manufacturing basket. When manufacturing declined, look what we were left with?"
— Jen Gerson (@jengerson) September 25, 2015
https://twitter.com/acoyne/status/647215818904743936
https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/647215942712193024
The reference to a “clear majority” in the reference was not about voter fraud. Holy cow that was brazen.
— Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪🇲🇩 (@acoyne) September 25, 2015