Leadership Debate

[Kliege]

Well, I think its close enough to start talking about. The roles are pretty much cast now.

Martin- Has screwed up badly, he called an election that he could really lose when he did not need to and i think he now realizes that right now.. He will have to take risks and put himself out there, and mix it up. He will play heavily the management card and stake himself and the party on their fiscal reputation. This will help Harpers quiet statesmen image, but Martin has no choice now but to try and pin Harper down on So-Con issues. Martin's age and speaking ability is a serious liability that most Canadians will be seeing for the first time, under pressure Martin does not speak or think very well. I think he will mostly ignore Layton unless there is an opening, with the exception of an emotional request for a personal apology about the homeless thing, and about CSL. He may try and suggest that Layton doesnt have the morality and reflectiveness to be trusted with the country. Also expect the Clarity Act to come up.

Harper- Gets to play the statesman this time. He is in the lead and has the momentum. He needs to seem reasonable and safe. Given his ability to deflect criticisms thus far, and the fact he has an excellent strategy team, I personally doubt he will get pinned down or caught. He is also more experienced at the art of debates. This is not known but Harper was on the debate Team when he was in university. His role is much like Chretein's in the last debates; defer deflect, and slow the pace down. A complete draw is a win for Harper at this point. A knockout will be hand him the election and most likely a majority.

He has been so quiet about Liberal corruption and largese of late, I assume he is holding something good, maybe something new his research team dug up, that may be outed at the debate or sometime before. He will look for an opening and maybe pull a Mulroney move, stepping from the podium and saying he had a choice to wait and get to the bottom of the sponsorship or call an early election.

Layton- A big chance. A good speaker. Him and Harper should have some great back and forth. He will have to be prepared for Martins tact above, and should have his research working overtime to get anything that will let him jump in on the sponsorship/Lib largese angle when Harper brings it up. I'd consider going back to attacking CSL, with the caveat that the Lib team will have prepared for this. He has some credibility about social issues, but doubt he will pin Harper down either and he he will offend mention the similarities in positions of Martin and Harper. Layton does have a bad sense of timing. He always runs over his time, and it looks amateurish and there sometimes seems to be more fluff then substance to the things he says at times.

Ducceppe- His task will be very easy, the french debates are first and look for him and Martin to go at it quite a bit. All he as to do it have a solid debate with is to be expected since it is his third national one and he will comeout of it well still ahead in Quebec. In the English debate look for him to be only a footnote and other attack dog against Martin.

Its going to be fun. I can't wait.

[Stoker]

When is the first one?

Is it on the tube? and I'm guessing if it is, it will be on CPAC/CBC...right?

I agree, it should be intresting......even though I think they are all a lot of nut bars, I would have liked the Greens there....for $hits and giggles of course

[Kliege]

The French Debate will be on Monday June 14th and the English Debate will be on Tuesday June 15th. It will be on all the main networks that operate out of canada and cpac

[joseph13]

Harpers Quiet Statesman--Harpers Quiet Because He Has Nothing Interesting To say Or Add To The Great Debate!!!

[Remus]

Is there any opinion on whether or not the conservatives will be able to gain support in Quebec on the back of a good Harper preformance in the French debate.

[caesar]

Harper is a loud mouth twerp who would have had us follow Bush in his ill advised invasion of Iraq. We don't need more tax cuts for the wealthy; we need our health care system back working. We need a strong independent Canadian identity; We do not want to be the next USA state. Now he lies and claims to have supported Chretien's decision to keep Canada out of an unsanctioned invasion of Iraq. An invasion that was based on lies and greed. An invasion that took the focus off the War on Terrorism and has instead spread that terrorist threat and brought more recruits to the terrorists. The USA's unending support for Israel which has defied UN resolutions 7x more than Iraq had and which has escaped taking responsibility for its aggressive actions thanks to the USA's veto.

[Kliege]

Caeser leave it to Jew hating commie comandos like you to bring up Israel into something that has nothing to do with either Israel or Iraq. Leave your hate speech out of the Forum you bigot.

[playfullfellow]

Harpers Quiet Statesman--Harpers Quiet Because He Has Nothing Interesting To say Or Add To The Great Debate!!!

My lord, did Harper steal a girlfriend or something from you at one time? Give it a break. Just because he is not a mud slinging, loud mouthed point the finger at others type of politician does not mean he is a bad politician. You know hwat I hear when I hear "Team Martin", I hear another dictatorship, another 4 years of one person controling what happens in this country. Yep, Martin has experience, he was good enough to create tax laws that benefitted his own company, he was good enough to help line the pockets of his backers and he cut any investigations going on short before they came to his back door.

I do not feel that Martin will do very well in the debates, he gets flustered too easily when faced with the unknown. Martin will sling mud, rant and rave about social morality but if Harper and LAyton can throw the unknown in there, they will fluster him and he will get thrown off balance. Like it or not, Layton and Harper will have to tag team this one. Maybe Martin can come up with another top 10 list, the last one went over very well. Then again, the top 10 list is someone elses idea and not very original.

[caesar]

I do not hate Jews just because I do not like the actions of Israel and America. Harper backs these governments and their actions by his words. Believe me; many Jews and Americans , also, disagree with the aggressive actions of both these governments which are endangering us all with their action and inflaming middle easterner Muslims and Arabs. Harper would have had Canada blindly follow America into that governments unwise aggressive actions. If you cannot separate the two; that is your problem. No governments should be exempt from obeying international laws; including America and Israel.

America's non action against Pakistan after its top scientist was discovered to be selling nuclear technologie and parts to rogue nations (America's top enemies). The Pakistan even allowed this scientist to keep his ill gotten gains and escape any punishment. So the USA rewards them by making them a favoured nation and thereby allowed to buy new weapon technologie from the USA. Gaddafi went overtime from Public Enemy Number one to ally overnight.

The USA now arms these questionable countries (much as it did Iraq in the past). A few years down the road, will these nations turn these American supplied weapons on our western countries????

Harper's blind support of the USA present government could lead Canada down the wrong road if he is elected.

[August1991]

I do not hate Jews just because I do not like the actions of Israel and America.

Caesar, create a new thread in the International forum where you can make all your points.