The French Language Debate

[bcholmes]

Tonight was the French language debate. My assessment of the leaders' performances:

• First: Duceppe (Bloc)
• Second: Harper (Conservative)
• Third: Layton (NDP)
• Fourth: Martin (Liberal)

Jack Layton (NDP) did a much poorer job than I expected. I thought that, in some areas where the NDP should have shined, Jack was sub-par. When Harper asked if "the traditional definition of marriage was a violation of Human Rights" Jack should have said, "Every time the government says that two consenting adults can't marry, it is a violation of human rights."

Harper (Conservative), sneakily, commented that he was okay with Gallant's comments because his party was open to diverse points of view, and asked if it was the same in the NDP. Layton should have responded, "The NDP is just like Canada: it is open, diverse, and welcomes healthy debate, but that human rights are a fundamental statement of direction that must be respected."

Jack seemed unprepared for Gilles Duceppe's point: "When it comes to things like health care, aren't you basically a federalist who would take decision-making power away from Quebec?" Jack fumbled for a response.

Jack was, however, quite prepared to debate with Martin (Liberal), and he did well on his one-on-one discussions with the Prime Minister.

Harper had the best closing speech (I'm sorry to say). His points were on-message and well-delivered (I don't like the message, but he was good about delivery).

Paul Martin did a lousy job. His entire debating style seemed to boil down to straw man arguments: "You've already said you're going to hike taxes..." and "Harper has said that his main priority is military spending." I'd say that Martin was the worst performer all and all.

I think the best performance, however, was Gilles Duceppe (Bloc Quebecois). Duceppe talked specific actions and details, and highlighted the differences between his party and the others almost solely on issues and party policy rather than using name-calling. Duceppe gave the best response to Harper's comments on same-sex marriage. Harper said that he wanted a free vote -- that he, personally, favoured the traditional definition of marriage but he would respect any decision that the majority of Parliament came to. When it was Duceppe's turn to reply, he said, "In Quebec, we already support same-sex marriage; and it's important to realize that the majority can't always make decisions on behalf of the minority." Again: on-message. First: talk about where Quebec stands on the issue. Then relate the whole issue to something that Quebecers relate to: being the minority.

This debate was primarily a debate between Martin and Duceppe. Neither the NDP nor the Conservatives are likely to win many votes in Quebec, and, frankly, the audience of the French Language Debate is Quebec.

Comments

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. But when he was on the receiving end, though, he sunk like a rock. When Duceppe kept hounding him to give an EI number, ferinstance. Martin looked like he was avoiding an answer.