John Robson: Questions that will get you booted off the leaders' planes

What follows is really for those of our Canadian readers who wish their political leaders would give clear answers to their questions about the issues of the day. American readers (as well as Brits, Aussies, anyone and everyone) will also find it useful to clip, save and adapt to their own countries' politics for the next go-round.

This is copied, almost verbatim, from "Here are the questions that would get me kicked off the federal leaders' planes", by John Robson, in today's National Post, the only major Canuck news outlet that even tries to provide unbiased coverage of the election campaign. Mr Robson writes:

"...thoughtful eloquence isn't as useless as most politicians seem to think. And too many journalists, including those who accept, as the price of admission to the campaign plane, that instead of pressing the candidates they will report their hideous verbiage as actual speech. They make themselves complicit. And for what?

Before insulting anyone else let me congratulate debate organizers for finally inviting Maxime Bernier. And not only because I think he's the only one even trying to talk sense, though I do.... Bernier's a serious presence, especially because on a remarkable number of issues he's on one side and the four "major" parties busy hacking one another to rhetorical shreds are grouped tightly together on the other. (Five if you count the Bloc [Québécois].)

If you doubt me, imagine what their leaders would mumble, if cornered, on the following questions that I'd insist on asking firmly and repeatedly with zero patience for evasions, bait-and-switch, impenetrable syntax or pre-chewed talking points:

• Is government in Canada too big? If so, what would you get rid of? If not, how would you pay for it?
• Why can't we do health care the way the French or Swedes do instead of the way Cuba does? (Anyone who drags in "American-style health care" immediately has their mic cut off.)
• Is China friend, foe or simply a foreign entity pursuing its own national interest?
• Does Canada need capable armed forces? If so, what do we need and how much are you ready to spend? If not, how do we deal with a dangerous world?
• Is the world dangerous? If not, how do you explain the entire course of human history? If so, why aren’t you more worried?
• Why do we deliberately raise the price of food for the poor through supply management? (Maxime Bernier can just sit and smirk during this one. Andrew Scheer can't.)
• Why is Canada the only democracy without any sort of abortion law (Vietnam also has none but even Cuba regulates late-term ones) when most Canadians want some restrictions?
• Does man-made climate change threaten civilization within the next decade or three? If so, how are we going to get rid of fossil fuels pronto and what will we replace them with? If not, why won’t you call global warming alarmism baloney?
• How should Canada's national interest factor into our immigration policies? Is there a level of immigration that you believe would be beyond our capability to absorb?
• Do you really think Canadian Indigenous bands are separate nations? If so, when will you explicitly legislate that Canadian law does not apply on their territories and open embassies? If not, why do you pretend to? Won’t they be annoyed when they realize you’re lying again?
• Where do you get your ideas of right and wrong? If "the Catholic church", why aren't your policies remotely consistent with Church doctrine? If  "from within", how do you know you're right? If "there’s no such thing as right and wrong," how can we trust you to do what’s right?
• How large, of all that human hearts endure, is that part that laws and governments can cure?

There. I wouldn't be the first person thrown off a campaign plane, possibly by other journalists. But with that list I can reasonably aspire to be the first to go out the door in mid-flight.

Bravo, Mr Robson. Bravo! Let's see how many (if any) of these questions are addressed seriously in the Leaders' Debates.

Footnote: For those who didn't buy the programme, the political leaders pictured are: Top row, L-R: Andrew Scheer (Conservative), Maxime Bernier (People's Party of Canada), Justin Trudeau (Liberal); bottom row, L-R: Yves-François Blanchet (Bloc Québécois, which runs candidates only in la Belle Province), Elizabeth May (Green) and Jagmeet Singh (NDP).