In spite of polling ahead of both the Bloc Québécois and the ultrawoke Green Party, People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier -- the man without the mask -- was excluded. Thus the "debates" amounted to nothing more than a liberal love-in, as the four leaders who aren't Just In Trudeau tripped all over themselves to say that they agreed with his "progressive" policies -- including "vaccine mandates" and carbon taxes -- the only issue being who should be Prime Minister come September 21st.
What did voters want to hear about? A poll conducted exclusively for True North revealed that the two most important issues for hapless Canucks were getting through the kung flu pandemic (36%) and climate change (30%). High-profile issues like foreign affairs and terrorism (read: China and Afghanistan) and "indigenous reconciliation" (read: hand out more money to the victims industry) were the least of respondents' concerns, at 2% and 7% respectively.
So which issues did the alleged journalists and pundits asking the questions focus on? You guessed it. Reconciliation got about 18% of the airtime on Thursday night, and the proceedings both nights started with the now obligatory "land acknowledgment ceremony" in which the emcee said how grateful everyone was that the People Formerly Known As Indians were allowing the debates to be held on land that had been stolen from them.
The official topics for Wednesday night's French-language debate were climate change, the cost of living, "cultural identity" (which skirted the reconciliation non-issue), the pandemic and mandatory vaccines, justice and foreign policy. All five of the participants were pretty much in agreement on those things, so the four who aim to replace Blackie McBlackface threw in "trust and integrity", and whether this election is even necessary.
In his first exchange with M Trudeau, Erin O'Tool, leader of the Mildly Conservative Party, asked, "Why did you call an election in the middle of a pandemic?... This isn't the time to be dividing people." Jugmeat Singh, leader of the Few Democrats chimed in, "The only reason to call an election is a selfish one. To gain more power. That was not the right thing to do."
Mr Socks' lame response was that Canadians deserve a say on how the country gets out of the pandemic. Mr Singh countered that there was no real choice, since the two main parties -- and there are only those two -- were like Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber. (He didn't use that phrase. It's mine!)
With no real disagreements on the issues, what amounted to a liberal love-in droned on for two house, the only sparks coming when M Trudeau engaged his drama queen gear. When Yves-François Blanchet (leader of the Bloc Québécois) said he was the only one standing up for the rights of Québec and Québécois, M Trudeau got all huffy and said he was just as much a Québecker as M Blanchet. In fact thatès not true, as Just In's mother, née Margaret Sinclair, was from the western province of Saskatchewan, and never bothered to learn French or otherwise become part of the "Québec nation".
That reminds me of a story I heard recently about the wife of Emperor Trudeau I. She was always something of an airhead, an earlier version of Princess Di, who married a much older man for reasons known only to her. She may also have had a problem with, errr, substance abuse. (It was all the rage in the disco era.) Anyhoo, she took to hanging out with the celebs at New York's Studio 54, and was photographed "going commando", showing a type of Canadian beaver not seen on the nickel. When asked to comment, Pierre (le père de Just In) allegedly said, "I hope Teddy Kennedy drives her home!"
But I digress. [Indeed. Can you just wrap up Wednesday night and we'll leave Thursday for the next post? Ed.] OK! Election debates always come with high expectations, to which they rarely live up. Wednesday night's debate was no exception.
It did, however, signal that the languid pace of this summer campaign is over now.
The leaders' messaging, their efforts to stand apart from their opponents, the occasional lame barbs they traded back and forth, all amounted to an acknowledgement by the party leaders that the public opinion polls they profess to ignore are right.
This race is close. A majority government appears out of reach for the two frontrunners. That means it's time for strategic voting.
Walt's advice for conservative Canucks, and everyone else who's sick of Just In Trudeau and all his pomps and wokeness: If you live in a riding where the Conservative candidate is in a close race, hold your nose and vote for him/her. If you're in a Québec riding where the Cons have little chance, vote for the PPC if they have a decent chance of winning, otherwise for the Bloc.
In all other circumstances, cast your ballot for the only party that offers a real conservative alternative -- Maxime Bernier's People's Party of Canada. The PPC is sitting at around 8%, nation-wide, in the latest polls. It would be wonderful, and good for Canada, to see them win not just Mad Max's seat (Beauce) but one or two besides.
Note from Ed.: Once Walt gets the bit between it's teeth, it's hard to stop him. Part 2 of his report on the Leaders' Debates follows momentarily.
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