Tonight at 6:30, final Ontario leaders' debate

[jasonott]

咋办呀，凑合挑一个吧。

你也可以投弃权票[emoji23]

 

[ccc]

https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/05/27/final-ontario-election-debate-turns-nasty.html

It was the liveliest — and, at times, the nastiest — Ontario election debate in decades.

The three major party leaders faced off Sunday night in Toronto for the final time in the June 7 election campaign.

Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, left to right, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford and Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath take part in the final debate of the election campaign on Sunday. (Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

And things got personal almost right away.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, whose party has slipped behind the surging New Democrats in public-opinion polls after weeks in front, warned NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is not ready to govern.

“I travel around, I’ve talked to hundreds and hundreds of companies — they are terrified of the NDP coming in,” Ford told viewers during the raucous 90-minute televised debate.

“They’ve told me personally, ‘We will pack up and we will go down south in half a second.’ God forbid the NDP ever get in, they will destroy our province,” he said, predicting Horwath “would annihilate the middle class” and “bankrupt this province.”

Following the debate, Ford repeatedly refused to say whether he would move Deco Labels and Tags, the successful business he inherited from his father, stateside if the New Democrats win.

After weathering a barrage of hyperbole from Ford, Horwath reminded him he has yet to share his full plan for governing Ontario.

“People started voting yesterday Mr. Ford. Where is your platform? Where is your respect for the people now when they are already at the polls and you haven’t provided them any information at all?” the New Democrat said.

“You wouldn’t buy a used car without looking under the hood,” she chided Ford, who became PC leader on March 10 after the resignation of Patrick Brown.

Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, premier since 2013, acknowledged from the outset that she is trailing in the polls.

“Here’s what I want to say about the last five years: Sorry, not sorry. I’m really genuinely sorry that more people don’t like me, but I am not sorry about all the things that we’re doing in Ontario to make life better,” Wynne said.

“I’m not sorry that we’re covering tuition for 235,000 students. I’m not sorry that we’re protecting the environment, and I’m really not sorry that we’re no longer asking single moms to raise a family on $11.40 an hour,” she said.

“I’m not sorry that we’re making an economy that works for everyone, not just a few.”

That was a reference to the Liberals increasing the minimum wage to $14 an hour in January. Under the Grits or the NDP it would rise to $15 next year, a planned hike the Conservatives would cancel to help businesses.

Ford, who broke with political tradition and did not wear a necktie to appear more relaxed, moved to reassure voters that he would not slash and burn public services.

“Not one single person will lose their job,” he said, noting he is convinced the Ontario government “wastes 4 per cent of every dollar” so finding “endless efficiencies” should be painless.

“Who do you trust with your money? The NDP can’t do math and the Liberals are cooking the books.”

The PC leader also warned that the NDP has “radical activists” as candidates.

“They get their inspiration from Adolf Hitler,” said Ford, referring to Scarborough-Agincourt NDP candidate Tasleem Riaz, whose Facebook page once had a post with a meme of the Nazi dictator with the quote, “If you don’t like a rule … change the rule.”

Horwath said any meme to do with Hitler is “absolutely abhorrent and is something that I absolutely reject, completely.”

“But Mr. Ford’s tabloid mudslinging against my candidates only foments divisiveness and hatred, and it has to stop — it’s the wrong thing to do,” she said, reminding Ford there are criminal probes linked to controversial Tory nominations.

“Mr. Ford, of all people, you have police investigations by three different police forces into candidates. Not from things that were dug up 10 years ago on Facebook, but right now, from data that was stolen from (Highway) 407 records. That’s you and your candidates and your party.”

The NDP leader, who repeatedly interrupted Ford despite the efforts of moderators Steve Paikin of TVO and Global News’ Farah Nasser, charged: “You can’t make up stuff, Mr. Ford. You’re not being truthful. You’re being dishonest.”

Confronted by the ghost of former NDP premier Bob Rae, who Ford blamed for the global recession in the early 1990s, Horwath said: “This is not 1990 and I’m certainly not Bob Rae — in fact he’s a Liberal now, but that’s another story.”

Prior to the debate, Green Leader Mike Schreiner, who was not invited to participate because his party does not have seat in the Legislature, blasted the broadcasters for excluding him.

“I am confident this will be the last unfair leaders debate because we are poised to send the first Green MPPs to the Legislature,” said Schreiner, who is running in Guelph.

“Next time around, media executives will have a much harder time justifying our exclusion.”

 

[ccc]

Ontario’s most volatile election campaign has produced one of its most vituperative leaders debates.

Doug Ford went after Andrea Horwath, who went after Kathleen Wynne.

Sunday’s final Ontario election debate didn’t produce the climactic moment many were waiting for — the so-called ‘knockout punch’ or catastrophic gaffe that campaigns supposedly turn on. (Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS)


And then?

The Liberal leader counterattacked against the NDP leader, who pushed back against the Progressive Conservative leader.

Unsurprisingly, Sunday’s televised confrontation didn’t produce the climactic moment many were waiting for — the so-called ‘knockout punch’ or catastrophic gaffe that campaigns supposedly turn on. But it gave voters previously unseen glimpses, under fire, of the usually scripted politicians who aspire to be premier.

For all the heat under the television lights, there was remarkably little illumination on policies. Yet that doesn’t mean voters were left in the dark on the personalities at play.

As unbearable and unwatchable as the debate could be, it produced some surprising winners and losers as voters wrestle with their decision:

Best opposition leader: Doug Ford, who attacked his NDP rival with such single-minded determination and repetition that he seemed to be auditioning for the job of heading Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. Rightly or wrongly, his underlying assumption seemed to be that Horwath is headed for the premier’s office.

Best debating captain: Andrea Horwath, who talked over her opponents so reflexively that she had to be reined in repeatedly by the moderators (“Ms. Horwath, let her finish, please.”) True to form, she squeezed in her attack lines persuasively.

Best supporting performer: Kathleen Wynne, who carried on as if she were destined to be re-elected premier for another four years — if only she could explain away the last four — and not like a leader fighting for her political life as the other two fight it out for first place in public opinion polls.

In every leaders debate, reporters reflexively look for punches, counterpunches and punch lines. Indeed, that journalistic scorecard will dominate the media narrative over the next few days as video clips keep looping on newscasts and the three rivals claim total victory in their press releases.

But that’s not how most viewers watch debates, nor how they absorb them at home. They are not as interested in the crossfire as how the leaders come across.

By that measure, this debate — like most such encounters — probably solidified the subjective viewpoints of many core voters. But among undecided and swing voters — some of whom are always hired by the rival campaign operations to watch the debates while moving a dial to indicate thumbs up or down in real time — this debate may have given pause and generated second thoughts.

First, despite the attempts by both the Tories and Liberals to paint the NDP as dangerously radical, Horwath held her own. She not only gave no ground, she gave up precious little air time to Ford and Wynne any time they attacked — interrupting, denying or making her point by laughing out loud.

Second, Ford often looked and sounded ill at ease at times. He seemed short of breath during his opening statement, reverted to frozen smiles under attack, and lapsed into verbal clumsiness at times. But for all the anticipation that he would implode on live TV, he committed no blunders and never lost his cool despite coming under attack from both sides.

Third, Wynne made no breakthroughs in a debate where she needed a miracle to recover lost ground. She had an easier time of it, as the other two leaders went at each other. But she may have made some progress in re-introducing herself to voters who have given up on her these last few years.

All that said, it doesn’t matter so much what the politicians say. Television has a way of highlighting body language and amplifying platitudes.

Ford kept proclaiming “My friends” with evangelistic ardour as he looked into the camera and promised “a new day will dawn” when “the people” have their say. And, he warned, “God forbid the NDP takes power,” for the province will “be 10 times worse under the NDP” — a phrase he repeated perhaps 10 times.

Horwath, for her part, kept referring to “folks” with similarly earnest expressions, bemoaning the cynicism in politics that arises when politicians attack one another — conveniently overlooking her attack lines of recent years.

While her rivals tried to convey to voters their direct connection, Wynne opted for contrition — a way to counter her consistently low popularity ratings in public opinion polls.

“Sorry, not sorry,” she began in her unconventional opening statement, looking directly into the camera. “I’m really, genuinely sorry, that more people don’t like me.”

And then she listed off the achievements about which she’s “not sorry” — protecting the environment, boosting the minimum wage, bolstering the economy and providing free college tuition.

 

[小 篆]

Best opposition leader: Doug Ford, who attacked his NDP rival with such single-minded determination and repetition that he seemed to be auditioning for the job of heading Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. Rightly or wrongly, his underlying assumption seemed to be that Horwath is headed for the premier’s office.

Best debating captain: Andrea Horwath, who talked over her opponents so reflexively that she had to be reined in repeatedly by the moderators (“Ms. Horwath, let her finish, please.”) True to form, she squeezed in her attack lines persuasively.

Best supporting performer: Kathleen Wynne, who carried on as if she were destined to be re-elected premier for another four years — if only she could explain away the last four — and not like a leader fighting for her political life as the other two fight it out for first place in public opinion polls.

 

[ccc]

这些9x/00后和中年人可怕啊。

 

[New Person]

这些9x/00后和中年人可怕啊。

这很正常。人的思想随着年龄的增长，多少都有一个从liberal到的conservative转变.

 

[ccc]

这很正常。人的思想随着年龄的增长，多少都有一个从liberal到的conservative转变.

４５－５９挺NDP的人多。　６０＋才挺PC的多。

 

[小 篆]

这很正常。人的思想随着年龄的增长，多少都有一个从liberal到的conservative转变.

这么一说，PC死忠粉们又多了一条自我感觉棒极了的理由：他们思想成熟

 

[小 篆]

４５－５９挺NDP的人多。　６０＋才挺PC的多。

大陆华移里面60+的刚好也是文革影响最深刻的一代吧？

 

[New Person]

我感觉，神父们不过四，五十岁，说明思想有些过成熟了。

 

[ert0000]

我把辩论全看完了，我知道谁能嬴了。但是现在不是说的时候。

 

[小 篆]

我把辩论全看完了，我知道谁能嬴了。但是现在不是说的时候。

等选举结果出来才是说的时候？
我告诉你，福特赢了，下届省长就是他了。

 

[eclipse]

NDP表现比我预想的要好多了，非常担心了。
自由党应该没希望啦。