Cory reviews the UCP debate
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
207.77026
Summary
The United Conservative Party of Alberta held its first leadership debate last night in Madison, Alberta. It was a good one, but there were a lot of technical issues that overshadowed it, and I'm here to give my thoughts on them.
Transcript
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Last night was the first United Conservative Party debate.
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Unfortunately, they had all sorts of technical issues.
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I'm just going to give my interpretation of what happened with it.
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The best line from the first UCP leaders debate actually came after the event was over.
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The UCP asked for $1,050,000 in leadership fees,
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of which apparently very little was spent on a stable internet connection.
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I mean, the debate was live-streamed, but it was constantly cutting out for extended periods.
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The terrible broadcast was the first news-making part of the event,
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and it didn't reflect very well on party management.
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Leadership contenders, I mean, they were forced to pony up $175,000 each to take part in the race.
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The least they could have hoped for is a solid streaming broadcast for an official leadership event.
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Almost all of them used those moments to take shots at Daniel Smith.
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I mean, a perceived frontrunner is always going to take the most flack in these events.
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And Danielle used her opening to clarify her stance on cancer prevention,
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as she knew it was going to be coming up, and it certainly did.
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where the candidates trying to pull down Smith really blew it.
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it's tough for contenders to stand out in the crowd in a debate.
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Organizers tried to model a format where each candidate got to respond to one issue in question.
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Then they could choose another candidate to debate with them on that issue,
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rather than having seven voices shouting over each other or taking half an hour per subject,
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because, you know, if you go through seven people, it's just not going to work.
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So, I mean, Rajin Sani was asked about the environment.
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She used the moment to attack Daniel Smith on her proposed Sovereignty Act.
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And then Sani, then, this is the interesting part,
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chose Smith as the one to debate for the next four minutes.
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and she got a question on how Alberta could stand up to Ottawa.
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Schultz spoke on how she was able to work collaboratively with Justin Trudeau's government
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on the daycare policy that was implemented within Alberta.
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And then she, as well, chose Smith as the one to debate for the next four minutes.
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Now, Daniel Smith is arguably the most skilled orator in the entire field of candidates.
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She has decades of media and political experience.
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She relished every moment she could take the microphone.
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And for the first half of the debate, she was on deck for 80% of the show
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because the candidates kept pulling her into the mix.
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Sani came across as rather weak and spent most of the entirety of the debate
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Smith was unruffled and just kept taking advantage of the opportunities Sani gave her
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to expand further on points of her platform that were considered contentious.
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Schultz, though, she made the worst strategic mistake of all
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when she gave Smith four minutes to debate on provincial-federal relations.
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I mean, Schultz was a cabinet minister in a party establishment
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that lost the support of its members, much of it due to their inaction in dealing with Ottawa.
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The issue is the weakest spot for Schultz and the strongest spot for Smith.
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It was the worst choice to debate Smith on this.
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Smith mopped the floor with Schultz as she took advantage of the chance
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to expand further on her Sovereignty Act while Schultz was on the defensive
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Smith was tossed a softball by Schultz, softball, and she must have been thrilled with the gift.
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Subsequent candidates, I think, realized the error in putting questions to Smith
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and they finally started choosing others, such as Sani, as their debated opponents.
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And due to the crappy feed, the debate had probably lost half its viewers by the second half anyways.
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And Brian Jean took a strong stance in saying we need constitutional change
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and that Canada's broken, but of course that requires a crisis as a catalyst
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and it plays right into Smith's proposed Sovereignty Act.
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In her closing statement, Smith addressed every other candidate
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and complimented them on their stances rather than speaking about herself.
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She finished the night appearing to be on the high road
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while a flustered pack of competing candidates made a little impression upon the viewers.
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The candidates challenging Smith gave it to her.
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There are still months left in the campaign and there's going to be other debates,
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including the one held by the Western Standard on August 9th.
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The candidates playing catch-up with Smith still have time to change tactics
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So far, though, they've been nothing but reactive and Smith is taking off with things.
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While all of them say Smith's proposed Sovereignty Act isn't feasible,
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none of them are presenting feasible alternatives to dealing with Ottawa
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Members are sick and tired of strongly worded letters
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and panels that do nothing but talk about issues.
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but the current course of action from the UCP is guaranteed to fail.
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Establishment politicians and media members are aghast at Smith's momentum
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and they're shooting at her from all sides, but it's not working.
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She's found a populist niche and she's effectively filling it.
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If the contenders for the UCP race can't propose effective alternatives to Smith's plan,
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she's going to walk away with this race this fall.