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No doubt, you’re looking forward with great expectation to Thursday’s leaders’ debate. Well, here to provide background, context and, perhaps, some comic relief, are stories and opinions to keep you critically attentive to all the rhetoric and faux outrage. (In other words, to help you recognize the bull … uh, balderdash.)
No pugilists please, we’re politicians
* Here’s what you need to know before the first leaders’ election debate. Just five days after the official launch of what will be the longest election campaign in modern Canadian political history, the leaders of the four major federal parties face off for the first time. Here’s a quick primer on what to expect from the Maclean’s National Leaders Debate that’ll be broadcast live from 8-10 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
* The first debate: A quickie — and debatable — guide to the contenders. NDP leader Tom Mulcair, haunted by his “Angry Tom” reputation; Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, tagged with the accusation that he’s “just not ready”; Conservative leader Stephen Harper, plagued by a reputation as a meanie; Green Party leader Elizabeth May, fond of high-flying rhetoric.
* Election debate strategy increasingly values defence over attempting knockout blow. The pugilistic metaphor of the “knockout line” is one of the big draws of election campaign debates. Partly this is because dry, over-rehearsed political oratory needs to spiced up to be memorable and viewers cherish whatever drama they can get. Mainly, though, it is because screen media — television, laptops, phones — are tailor-made for the big moment, broadcasting not just the words, but also the images of a candidate in full fight, swinging big rhetorical fists from behind the podium or taking one on the chin. But this is changing. As more and more video clips are held up like chalices of political victory, their power is diminished. Ennui has settled in over the very idea of the knockout blow. A new ideal debate strategy is emerging: defence is valued over offence and opponents are tired out, rather than knocked out. In this fight, winning is survival of the chillest.
* As Stephen Harper campaigns for a fourth term in power, something new on the trail … Stephen Harper’s re-election campaign has given the public daily sightings of two people he used to shield from the spotlight — his children. Unlike past campaigns, Ben and Rachel Harper have already been front and centre at the Conservative leader’s events alongside their mother, Laureen. Ben, who’s now in university, and Rachel, a high school student, have already shaken hands with party supporters and listened to one of their father’s stump speeches from the front row. It’s not uncommon for politicians to bring their families to partisan events, but Ben and Rachel’s prominence in the campaign so far marks a shift for a prime minister who has worked hard to keep his personal life private. Indeed, earlier this week, the children even shopped for fried chicken with their folks during a grocery-store photo op.
* The fakery behind a modern election campaign. When you see the federal leaders or local candidates on TV over the next 11 weeks, they’re not speaking at huge rallies that you get to see as well — they’re speaking at events designed for you, in which the real live people with them are props. We know this, but it’s easy to forget: The “campaign” is in the coverage, not in the events themselves, and now more than ever. Consider this: At his first Toronto-area event of the current campaign in Ajax, Conservative leader Stephen Harper spoke with multiple rows of supporters behind him. It gave him a mobile, active backdrop and fostered the impression on television that the room is so crowded they’ve had to seat people on the stage. Similarly, when Ontario’s Liberal premier, Kathleen Wynne, campaigned in Ottawa she spoke in a storefront campaign office that forced more people than fit in the building to strain to hear from outside. In both cases the politicians were applying a technique of political stagecraft: however many people you’re expecting, book a room that’s slightly too small. You want to look as though you’re totally taken aback by how many people your bandwagon is picking up.
Elsewhere …
* NDP has to prove it’s in for the long haul in latest battle for Quebec. Like boxers in a ring, some politicians can’t quite resist a re-match. Take Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe. After watching his party virtually wiped off the electoral map in 2011 — dropping from 47 MPs to two with the New Democrats grabbing the spoils — he’s come out of retirement looking for redemption. He’s convinced the Bloc has a future, arguing what happened in 2011 is an example of fickle yet pragmatic Quebec citizens indulging in strategic voting to get more out of the Canadian experience rather than actually rejecting the Bloc’s ideas or him. Plus, as he pointed out this week, the last time Quebecers went to the polls their minds were filled with the “Bon Jack” factor, a reference to the affection for former NDP leader Jack Layton who managed to woo Quebecers into forsaking the Bloc.
Opinions, opinions and other pontifications
* Michael Den Tandt: The leaders’ debate is more about personality than policy. Does Justin Trudeau have the chops to go toe-to-toe with Stephen Harper or is he, as the attack ad would have it, just not ready? Has Thomas Mulcair, the House of Commons prosecutor-in-chief, been overrated? And does the prime minister, a man famously averse to improvisation, retain the flexibility, control and poise to trade barbs without coming off as mean or arrogant? Thursday night’s Maclean’s debate is a pivotal moment in Campaign 2015. The reasons have less to do with policy, ostensibly the business at hand, than they do with personality, technology and the nature of modern politics. That said, Harper has an Achilles heel: his highly competitive, partisan nature and his instinct for the cutting barb could make him appear the bully, reinforcing all his negatives.
* David Reevely: Sticking up for the public service a tricky line for Ottawa politicians. Greg Fergus, the Liberal candidate in Hull-Aylmer, thinks public servants deserve more respect from the politicians. In particular, cabinet minister should show Canada’s public service more respect by taking its advice and letting its members speak openly without reprisals, he says. Reevely, however, suggests that’s a tricky position for opposition parties to take in an election. “Sticking up for the public service is something they have to do very carefully, lest they be branded outside the capital as creatures of Ottawa bureaucrats,” he writes. He goes on to note that Fergus is a former policy adviser to Liberal ministers — and his party’s former national director — and he’s challenging the NDP incumbent, Nycole Turmel, who used to be president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
* Randall Denley: Don’t be fooled by pension politics. In this federal election, all three major parties have something to say about the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security payments, but don’t be fooled. Their ideas have no value to seniors of today. The NDP and the Liberals want to increase CPP contributions and enhance payments, but that’s not going to help people who are now retired or nearing that stage. It will be decades before those enhanced CPP benefits provide real retirement help. The Conservatives have said they will consider some way to let people voluntarily contribute more to the CPP, but the idea is a vague notion, at best. The best question to ask is what’s the big problem all of this is trying to solve?
Sometimes the best ‘communication’ is a muzzle
* Trudeau will exceed expectations ‘if he comes on stage with his pants on': Harper spokesperson on debate. Prime ministerial mouthpiece Kory Teneycke seems to think it helps the Conservative cause to mock Liberal leader Justin Trudeau for his supposed lack of maturity. Ahead of Thursday’s leaders’ debate, he remarked that expectations for Trudeau have “probably never been lower for a leader going to a debate.” Indeed, says Teneycke, “if he comes on stage with his pants on, he will probably exceed expectations.” This from Stephen Harper’s former director of communications and the one-time vice president of the now-defunct Sun News Network.
Lacing up the gloves
* Election events: What happened on Wednesday, and what they’re doing Thursday. Green party Leader Elizabeth May spent Wednesday on her own in Toronto ahead of the debate. May’s officials say she prefers to be left alone to study, rather than participate in practice or mock debates like the other leaders. Meanwhile, with Conservative leader Stephen Harper spending the day preparing for the leaders’ debate, wife Laureen Harper was on the campaign trail, speaking to party supporters at a campaign office in Richmond Hill. NDP leader Tom Mulcair was also practising for the debate even as the New Democrats put out an attack ad denouncing the Tory economic record. And then there was Justin Trudeau. Hoping to remind voters of how he beat former Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau in a boxing match in 2012, the Liberal leader was looking forward to visiting a boxing gym in Toronto Thursday ahead of the debate. No doubt, Trudeau hopes to repeat his fisticuff feat in the debating ring.
查看原文...
No pugilists please, we’re politicians
* Here’s what you need to know before the first leaders’ election debate. Just five days after the official launch of what will be the longest election campaign in modern Canadian political history, the leaders of the four major federal parties face off for the first time. Here’s a quick primer on what to expect from the Maclean’s National Leaders Debate that’ll be broadcast live from 8-10 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
* The first debate: A quickie — and debatable — guide to the contenders. NDP leader Tom Mulcair, haunted by his “Angry Tom” reputation; Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, tagged with the accusation that he’s “just not ready”; Conservative leader Stephen Harper, plagued by a reputation as a meanie; Green Party leader Elizabeth May, fond of high-flying rhetoric.
* Election debate strategy increasingly values defence over attempting knockout blow. The pugilistic metaphor of the “knockout line” is one of the big draws of election campaign debates. Partly this is because dry, over-rehearsed political oratory needs to spiced up to be memorable and viewers cherish whatever drama they can get. Mainly, though, it is because screen media — television, laptops, phones — are tailor-made for the big moment, broadcasting not just the words, but also the images of a candidate in full fight, swinging big rhetorical fists from behind the podium or taking one on the chin. But this is changing. As more and more video clips are held up like chalices of political victory, their power is diminished. Ennui has settled in over the very idea of the knockout blow. A new ideal debate strategy is emerging: defence is valued over offence and opponents are tired out, rather than knocked out. In this fight, winning is survival of the chillest.
* As Stephen Harper campaigns for a fourth term in power, something new on the trail … Stephen Harper’s re-election campaign has given the public daily sightings of two people he used to shield from the spotlight — his children. Unlike past campaigns, Ben and Rachel Harper have already been front and centre at the Conservative leader’s events alongside their mother, Laureen. Ben, who’s now in university, and Rachel, a high school student, have already shaken hands with party supporters and listened to one of their father’s stump speeches from the front row. It’s not uncommon for politicians to bring their families to partisan events, but Ben and Rachel’s prominence in the campaign so far marks a shift for a prime minister who has worked hard to keep his personal life private. Indeed, earlier this week, the children even shopped for fried chicken with their folks during a grocery-store photo op.
* The fakery behind a modern election campaign. When you see the federal leaders or local candidates on TV over the next 11 weeks, they’re not speaking at huge rallies that you get to see as well — they’re speaking at events designed for you, in which the real live people with them are props. We know this, but it’s easy to forget: The “campaign” is in the coverage, not in the events themselves, and now more than ever. Consider this: At his first Toronto-area event of the current campaign in Ajax, Conservative leader Stephen Harper spoke with multiple rows of supporters behind him. It gave him a mobile, active backdrop and fostered the impression on television that the room is so crowded they’ve had to seat people on the stage. Similarly, when Ontario’s Liberal premier, Kathleen Wynne, campaigned in Ottawa she spoke in a storefront campaign office that forced more people than fit in the building to strain to hear from outside. In both cases the politicians were applying a technique of political stagecraft: however many people you’re expecting, book a room that’s slightly too small. You want to look as though you’re totally taken aback by how many people your bandwagon is picking up.
Elsewhere …
* NDP has to prove it’s in for the long haul in latest battle for Quebec. Like boxers in a ring, some politicians can’t quite resist a re-match. Take Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe. After watching his party virtually wiped off the electoral map in 2011 — dropping from 47 MPs to two with the New Democrats grabbing the spoils — he’s come out of retirement looking for redemption. He’s convinced the Bloc has a future, arguing what happened in 2011 is an example of fickle yet pragmatic Quebec citizens indulging in strategic voting to get more out of the Canadian experience rather than actually rejecting the Bloc’s ideas or him. Plus, as he pointed out this week, the last time Quebecers went to the polls their minds were filled with the “Bon Jack” factor, a reference to the affection for former NDP leader Jack Layton who managed to woo Quebecers into forsaking the Bloc.
Opinions, opinions and other pontifications
* Michael Den Tandt: The leaders’ debate is more about personality than policy. Does Justin Trudeau have the chops to go toe-to-toe with Stephen Harper or is he, as the attack ad would have it, just not ready? Has Thomas Mulcair, the House of Commons prosecutor-in-chief, been overrated? And does the prime minister, a man famously averse to improvisation, retain the flexibility, control and poise to trade barbs without coming off as mean or arrogant? Thursday night’s Maclean’s debate is a pivotal moment in Campaign 2015. The reasons have less to do with policy, ostensibly the business at hand, than they do with personality, technology and the nature of modern politics. That said, Harper has an Achilles heel: his highly competitive, partisan nature and his instinct for the cutting barb could make him appear the bully, reinforcing all his negatives.
* David Reevely: Sticking up for the public service a tricky line for Ottawa politicians. Greg Fergus, the Liberal candidate in Hull-Aylmer, thinks public servants deserve more respect from the politicians. In particular, cabinet minister should show Canada’s public service more respect by taking its advice and letting its members speak openly without reprisals, he says. Reevely, however, suggests that’s a tricky position for opposition parties to take in an election. “Sticking up for the public service is something they have to do very carefully, lest they be branded outside the capital as creatures of Ottawa bureaucrats,” he writes. He goes on to note that Fergus is a former policy adviser to Liberal ministers — and his party’s former national director — and he’s challenging the NDP incumbent, Nycole Turmel, who used to be president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
* Randall Denley: Don’t be fooled by pension politics. In this federal election, all three major parties have something to say about the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security payments, but don’t be fooled. Their ideas have no value to seniors of today. The NDP and the Liberals want to increase CPP contributions and enhance payments, but that’s not going to help people who are now retired or nearing that stage. It will be decades before those enhanced CPP benefits provide real retirement help. The Conservatives have said they will consider some way to let people voluntarily contribute more to the CPP, but the idea is a vague notion, at best. The best question to ask is what’s the big problem all of this is trying to solve?
Sometimes the best ‘communication’ is a muzzle
* Trudeau will exceed expectations ‘if he comes on stage with his pants on': Harper spokesperson on debate. Prime ministerial mouthpiece Kory Teneycke seems to think it helps the Conservative cause to mock Liberal leader Justin Trudeau for his supposed lack of maturity. Ahead of Thursday’s leaders’ debate, he remarked that expectations for Trudeau have “probably never been lower for a leader going to a debate.” Indeed, says Teneycke, “if he comes on stage with his pants on, he will probably exceed expectations.” This from Stephen Harper’s former director of communications and the one-time vice president of the now-defunct Sun News Network.
Lacing up the gloves
* Election events: What happened on Wednesday, and what they’re doing Thursday. Green party Leader Elizabeth May spent Wednesday on her own in Toronto ahead of the debate. May’s officials say she prefers to be left alone to study, rather than participate in practice or mock debates like the other leaders. Meanwhile, with Conservative leader Stephen Harper spending the day preparing for the leaders’ debate, wife Laureen Harper was on the campaign trail, speaking to party supporters at a campaign office in Richmond Hill. NDP leader Tom Mulcair was also practising for the debate even as the New Democrats put out an attack ad denouncing the Tory economic record. And then there was Justin Trudeau. Hoping to remind voters of how he beat former Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau in a boxing match in 2012, the Liberal leader was looking forward to visiting a boxing gym in Toronto Thursday ahead of the debate. No doubt, Trudeau hopes to repeat his fisticuff feat in the debating ring.
查看原文...
