My opinion on the federal debate

Ladies and gentlemen!

Like millions of Canadians, I watched the federal debate of the six leaders broadcast on CBC last night. The debate lasted two hours and took place at the Canadian Museum of History, only a few kilometers away from my apartment and workplace. The participating leaders were Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party, Andre Scheer of the Conservative Party, Jagmeet Singh of the New Democratic Party, Elizabeth May of the Green Party, Yves-François Blanchette of the Bloc Québécois and Maxime Bernier of the People's Party. The five female moderators were Rosemary Barton, Susan Delacourt, Dawna Friesen, Lisa LaFlamme and Althia Raj. Here are my impressions on the leaders' performances, ranked from worst to best.

6. Maxime Bernier (People's Party): Maxime Bernier didn't do a great job at all. It has to be said that quoting his tweets and pointing him out as a rude radical as one moderator did wasn't very objective and gave him an unfair disadvantage. However, Bernier made enough mistakes to make himself look disrespectful on stage. He aggressively and constantly interrupted the other leaders, more than anyone else on stage. He only repeated that he favours a balanced budget but didn't give any other details on his program. He seemed fairly limited in his propositions.

5. Justin Trudeau (Liberal Party): Justin Trudeau remained calm and composed throughout the debate with a charming smile on his face. Those are the only positive elements that could be mentioned. He was very defensive, justifying his actions as Prime Minister of Canada with vague statements that he kept repeating endlessly. He never elaborated upon precise strategies to save the environment or fight poverty for example. When Blanchette asked him two precise questions, he didn't answer either. In the interview after the debate, he continued to avoid precise answers and sounded like a broken record. As a Prime Minister, he failed to inspire change, courage and progression in the debate.

4. Andrew Scheer (Conservative Party): Andrew Scheer surprised us right from the start by attacking Justin Trudeau with clear and harsh words that rarely come from this publicly mild-mannered politician. After an energetic start however, Scheer went back to his usual strategies consisting of speaking in a boring monotonous voice, repeating old party slogans and overtly criticizing anything Justin Trudeau said. The only element he promoted repeatedly was to guarantee more money in citizens' pockets if he were to be elected.

3. Elizabeth May (Green Party): Elizabeth May spoke with a lot of passion and promoted environmentalism throughout the debate. She was able to integrate this topic on numerous occasions without imposing it obnoxiously. Her ideas, messages and strategies were clear and she managed to get much more attention for them than one could have thought beforehand. She can be considered one of the winners of this debate. The main reason why she didn't perform better than Singh and Blanchette is that she only ever spoke about one single topic. If the Green Party aims to be elected, it must present more topics than just environmentalism. In addition to this, Elizabeth May mentioned some uninteresting personal anecdotes such as discussing restaurants she had been to and she attacked Justin Trudeau in such an aggressive way towards the end of the debate that it almost seemed hysterical.

2. Yves-François Blanchette (Bloc Québécois): Yves-François Blanchette expressed himself really well and made a respectable effort to speak English for two hours even though his political party promotes the use of the French language. He was always polite, very rarely interrupted other leaders and even made a few jokes to improve the atmosphere. His statements regarding religious symbols and pipelines were very clear from start to finish. He also asked precise questions to other leaders who often failed to respond. His conclusion was however slightly awkward since he suddenly spoke about Quebec's independence which hadn't been mentioned throughout the debate and which is a proposition rejected by a majority of Quebeckers. The Bloc Québécois must promote rights of Quebeckers but should stop being stuck in the mid-nineties and promote the creation of a country. Still, Yves-François Blanchette can be seen as a winner of this debate because of his clear statements and polite manners presented to a large audience.

1. Jagmeet Singh (New Democratic Party): Jagmeet Singh is the greatest winner of this debate. He rarely interrupted other leaders, gave very clear statements and showed how flexible his propositions are. He managed to balance jokes and meaningful ideas which made him look dynamic, entertaining and intelligent alike. He presented himself as more progressive than the Liberals but less radical than the Green Party. The fact that he clearly stated that Maxime Bernier's radical statements don't represent Canada was an additional positive point. Jagmeet Singh is probably the leader who might have convinced the highest number of undecided voters, which was also underlined in CBC's analysis following the debate.

The last time Canada had a Prime Minister from a different party than a conservative or a liberal party was back in the 1920's. After Harper and Trudeau weren't able to fulfil their promises, the time has come to finally give a new party a chance. The NDP has a dynamic leader, fresh ideas supporting real people with real issues and is more progressive than the Conservatives and the Liberals but less radical than the Green Party, the People's Party of Canada or the Bloc Québécois.

Vote NDP and vote Singh on October 21st 2019!