The Great Debate

As part of my catch-up homework on the leadership race, I recently sat down and watched the first NDP debate, from December 4th. In its entirety. In French, and English. See what I put myself through for you, gentle reader?

The large number of candidates meant that each was limited to a few minutes speaking time, and could do little more but introduce themselves and give a taste of their personality and policy preoccupations. Echoing that brevity, here are two-line assessments of debate performance before I go more in depth on the debate. I am listing candidates in reverse order of debate impressiveness.

Robert Chisholm - No French, already out, 'nuff said.

Romeo Saganash - English was a problem for him, and I got the sense that the language barrier limited him to repeating platitudes about working together and looking out for everyone. Then I heard him in French, where, very eloquently, he said the same things.

Martin Singh - Not as crazy as I expected, given that he came from nowhere and has never held office. Still not really qualified though.

Paul Dewar - Turns out he's not a great public speaker, and lost it a bit when Topp went after him.

Niki Ashton - Poised, attractive, confident, young. A little too Tracy Flick for me.

Brian Topp - Good in French and English, comes off as issue-smart and straight-talking. But when he went after Dewar, he looked a little thuggish.

Nathan Cullen - Young MP from BC, not Niki Ashton young but at 39 still a little youngish for leadership. Great energy, policy smarts, wicked humor (calling the prisons bill "Stephen Harper's housing plan"). Keep taking those French lessons though.

Peggy Nash - Composed, polished, made a case based her record and showed she knew her issues. A little cautious, like a female Thomas Mulcair.

Thomas Mulcair - Composed, polished, stands on his record, really knows his policy. Good at looking leaderish, and avoiding misstatements. A male Peggy Nash, but in this race tie goes to the Quebecer.

The theme of the debate was "Building an Inclusive Economy," which the candidates took as an invitation to shoehorn in the word "inclusive" as often as possible in the first five minutes of the debate, and thereafter drift from issue to issue based on their individual strengths and favored talking points.

As is typical in Canadian debates, language proficiency was front and center, coloring the rest of a candidate's debate performance. It turns out that Romeo Saganash can't debate well in English, which hurts him a lot. Peggy Nash, Paul Dewar, Nathan Cullen and Martin Singh can't debate well in French, which hurts them, but a little less. Robert Chisholm, to speak ill of the departed can't debate well in English or at all in French, which prompted him to withdraw his candidacy by the end of December, specifically citing his lack of French as the reason.

Otherwise, the collegial atmosphere (at one point Cullen emphasized that he was in "violent agreement" with his rivals) and large number of candidates made this a superficial, low-impact affair. The only hint of conflict all night was a run that Brian Topp took at Paul Dewar, implying that Dewar was relying on deficit spending to fund his proposal for an East-West energy grid. Dewar was baffled by the question, and shocked at the breach of the peace. He was also kind of right - no one had even implied deficit spending until Topp brought it up. From pure theatrics, the episode was probably a wash - Topp looked like a bully, and Dewar looked flummoxed.

The debate helped sort candidates into tiers, and add an element of live testing to the war of position within the party as they vie for endorsements and the support of established constituencies. Based on both factors, the only three viable leadership candidates seem to be Topp, Mulcair and Nash. Dewar has a solid party profile, but he'll need a strong performance in the next debate if he wants to convince members that he can lead a national campaign against Stephen Harper. Nathan Cullen has great potential, but seems too young and lacks a base inside the party. Niki Ashton is too young - 29 is young even for an MP, and it would be unprecedented for a leader of a major party. Romeo Saganash needs some more seasoning - he just entered Parliament in 2011, and needs to grow into national politics and improve his English public speaking. Martin Singh needs to go back to Nova Scotia and win his riding - he hasn't made his bones yet in party politics, at least not on the national level.

For those interested in watching for themselves, here's the link: CPAC - Video on Demand