Was that a flashback to Canada’s federal leaders John Turner and Brian Mulroney in 1984? These people need new material. The Ontario leaders’ television event last night was like a debate in a ladies’ washroom. It had a bad set, erratic camera work, rehashed script, confused organization and a bewildered moderator. As you might gather, last night’s leaders’ debate was not the television event of the year. While, on balance, Premier Wynne held her ground, there were no defining moments, no coup de grâce, nothing new and voters were once again left stuck with the same basic conundrum.
You have to say that Wynne won but it was only because she was still on her feet with that rigid smile stuck on her face at the end. She survived. That in itself was an accomplishment. You could read her as uptight but she kept her cool. She was the old maid school teacher with an unruly classroom.
But nobody knew that New Democrat leader Andrea Horwath could out shout the other two. She was rude and demanding of attention like a petulant child. She kept re-arranging her queue cards like a game of dominos. She knew it was her last hurrah and she was going to make the most of it.
Yet, Timmy Hudak the Conservative leader was the nasty little kid who tried to kick teacher in the shins. He was hardly listening. He had to get one more little anecdote in about his family values before they shut him down. He seemed oblivious to his surroundings and the people he was supposedly interacting with. He was certainly not paying any attention to what was asked of him.
One of the problems with the show was that the three leaders would later address the person who pre-taped the question—totally confusing the watcher. Some bright handler had told Kathleen Wynne to always address the camera with the red light on and she did. She was caught like a deer in the headlights. And as the leaders’ lecterns were so far apart, it made the interaction of the leaders stilted and hard to connect.
So did Wynne win? No, she only survived and that was all she had to do. Did she reach that magic majority? If she did, it is very slim. There are eight more days to go.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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