CORY'S RANT： CPC circus debate
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Summary
The Conservative Party of Canada's leadership debate in Edmonton, Alberta on Tuesday night was a bizarre one, to say the least. I've never seen anything quite like it, and I'm here to break it down for you.
Transcript
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Now first, I'm going to play a quick clip of the best hits of last night's debate before I go into
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my breakdown of it. It was really something else. If you didn't watch it, this will give you a good
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flavor of what it was really quite about. You can't mention any other candidate on the stage
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and you can't mention any other federal leader. If you do, there's going to be trouble and here's
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what you're going to hear. Example, and I'm going to use the name of another party leader now,
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but if you look at the way the prime minister used vaccine mandates and actually divided Canadians
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by demonizing one group over another. You know the rules. You've just broke them. We're moving on.
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Okay. And a captain of your own life. Thank you.
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All right. Folks, here's the deal. Supporters of any candidate, the time that you cheer is going to be
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taken away from your candidate. Just so you know, that's the way the deal works here.
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But when have we ever heard the prime minister say, I believe in this project. I think it should
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happen. And yes, please, I'm delighted to name them if you want me to.
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You heard that. And for you, what book are you reading now? But when you have the opportunity
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to sit down and listen to some music, what do you listen to?
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Well, pick a local hero, Paul Brandt, Alberta Brown.
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You got to let them applaud that, Tom. Come on.
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Thank you, candidates, very much. It was a challenging format, but I think that we did well.
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And that was just a handful of high points or low points or whatever you want to call them
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from last night's debate. I've really never seen anything quite like it. So I'll break it down.
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I mean, I'm a political weenie. There's no denying that. And over the years, I've watched countless
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leaders' debates from multiple parties. I've seen some with fireworks and yelling and hollering and
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some that are dull enough to put me to sleep even if I drank half a gallon of espresso.
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I've never witnessed a bizarre debacle like I did last night, though, with the Conservative Party
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of Canada leadership debate in Edmonton. This is the first debate held, or the first debate that
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was held with the CPC leadership candidates was an unofficial one. It was held by the Canada Strong
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and Free Network at their annual conference in Ottawa. Now, that debate was heated and had a lot
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of vicious confrontational exchanges between the candidates, Pierre Polyev and Jean Charest.
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The other candidates had a hard time even gaining notice on the stage as the scraps continued
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between those two perceived frontrunners. Now, pundits and Conservative politicians expressed
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concerns that such vitriolic displays could sour voters on the Conservatives and divide the party.
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Preston Manning and even ironically, Jason Kenney spoke up on the division being fostered with
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debates and with candidates being so antagonistic with each other. The debate held in Edmonton was the
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first official one, so all six candidates for the leadership were in attendance.
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I was looking forward to hearing more, what I'd hoped to be more nuanced policy discussion from
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more than just two candidates, and I was to be disappointed, to say the least. Now, to begin with,
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the audio quality was reminiscent of high school assemblies I had to attend back in the 1980s.
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Feedback blasted the audience as the event began, and there was an audible humming sound that was
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assailing the ears of listeners going forward from that period on. As well, the candidates were set
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up in front of these large monitors, which perhaps looked good from afar, but it led to a blurred and
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almost nauseating effect whenever the cameras zoomed in closely to the individual candidates.
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Once the audio was settled enough to get the event underway, we were treated to an uninterrupted
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two-hour awkward moment. That's the best way I could put it. You know, the term cringe that's used
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almost too much. In this case, it applied very well to last night's debate. And what I can imagine
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was a response to the somewhat haywire debate in Ottawa. Organizers created a format they felt would
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prevent candidates from going off the rails in Edmonton. Moderator Tom Clark laid down the law
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with strict rules. If any candidate mentioned another politician or candidate, they would be
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interrupted by that sad trombone sound effect that you heard earlier. I thought this was some sort of
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joke, but quickly within the first round, Jean Charest was interrupted with the trombone because
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he said, Prime Minister. Charest was flustered and annoyed. And who can blame him? It was bizarre.
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Another rule Clark laid out was that candidates would be penalized with reduced speaking time if
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their supporters made any noises, such as clapping or cheering. Polyev ran a foul of this rule repeatedly
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as his microphone was shut down. Polyev was also penalized when audience members booed Charest over
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something he'd said. The moderator just assumed the offenders were Polyev supporters. It was just weird.
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The debate was constantly interrupted as the moderator stopped to scold both candidates and
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audience members for their misbehavior. Clark was in full school marm mode and he seemed to relish it.
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Even without interruptions, it was hard to get anything of substance from the candidates.
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For the first portion of the event, they were limited to 15 second response times.
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Even items like abortion. Can you talk about abortion in 15 seconds? I despise formats where
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candidates can drone on for minutes with every question, but 15 seconds was just ridiculous.
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And the event took an even stranger turn. As a series of fluffy questions were presented to
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candidates in some sort of effort, I guess, to humanize and get to know them, candidates appeared
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to be taken off guard as they shuffled and came up with answers to such pressing questions as,
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which TV show have you most recently binged on? Or who is your hero? I was surprised that the
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moderator didn't ask them what their favorite color was or how they like their eggs cooked at breakfast.
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Next, the debate moved on to a game show type of format. Candidates were issued these paddles and they
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were instructed that they have to raise them in hopes of being chosen to respond to topics during the
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debate. And those number of responses had a limit to them. So a number of candidates weren't allowed to
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respond to segments in the later part because they'd used up their paddle time. It was really weird.
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Leslie Lewis was repeatedly mixed up on when or how she would be able to speak and
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she can't really be blamed. The moderator didn't seem sure who was still allowed to speak or not
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either after this weird period of the paddle mode of the debate. I mean, if you want to make it
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interesting, have them paddle each other, but the stupid raising of it was just weird. The agonizing
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debate mercifully closed off with short statements from the candidates as they doubtless were eager to flee
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the stage from this debacle. If the intent of the organizers was to create an event that would
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appeal to viewers and instill confidence among people in the ability of the Conservative Party
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of Canada, they failed dismally. They would have been better off not holding a debate at all than
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having created this strange event. The campaign for the leadership of the CPC is going to be a long one.
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Members don't vote until September 10th. This is a blessing as I can only imagine the party wants
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people to forget the spectacle they created in Edmonton for their English debate.