Today I had the luxury of watching some of the Green Party leadership debate in Calgary (this is the second of two leadership debates).
The tale of the tape. (with a tongue in my cheek)
Green Party – 3 Candidates
Liberal Party – 24593 Candidates and one fiddle player (can you just see Joe Volpe tugging at everyone’s heartstrings with a rendition of Whitney’s Greatest Love of All on a Strad?)
Green Party – 2 hours, strict on time
Liberal Party – Months and months (and months) of pleading for national support?
Green Party – Numerous questions addressed in the debate with several diverse views but primarily it was a chance to see how people handle the public, and a chance to spotlight strengths and views on how they would lead. Which is in essence what a leadership debate really is.
Liberal Party – very few questions due to number of candidates, very few answers and all the answers were the same. “I agree with the Liberal philosophy and evil Harperites are evil evil evil” or something to that effect.
On the diversity front, the Liberals score more because they have about 10 people from each riding running for their leadership. But only one from Quebec.
The Green Party has an Ottawa political scientist (David Chernushenko), An American ex-patriot daughter of flower children turned environmental lawyer (Elizabeth May) and a real estate agent from St. Catherines who helped found a company bent on selling hemp products. (Jim Fannon).
I actually enjoyed watching these three both praise themselves but also the party and each other. There were no gutless attacks like Dion’s on Kennedy. There was no lopsided bullying the way the Libs all ganged up on Iggy. The Liberals should pay attention.