Leaders' debate covered topics from crime to health care

tiffiant

Leaders' debate covered topics from crime to health care
Opposition leaders set their sights on Stephen Harper
News1130 Staff Apr 13, 2011 07:29:29 AM
2    Related Stories

•Rob Freeman and Tammy Moyer interview Green party leader Elizabeth May
•Tom Bricker and Ben Wilson interview Parliament Hill reporter Cormac Macsweeney
•National leaders' debate underway
OTTAWA (NEWS1130) - It was two hours of debating for all of us to see and judge. The televised leaders' debate covered the gamet from health care to crime to corruption.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, NDP leader Jack Layton, and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe all pointed their tractor beams on Conservative leader Stephen Harper from the get go.

(Ignatieff) "Mr. Harper doesn't have your priorities in mind. His priorities are jets, jails and corporate tax giveaways."

(Layton) "Many failures. Corruption in government, real difficulties with our health care system. And when it comes to the economy, you're having a tougher and tougher time to make ends meet.

(Duceppe) "Stephen Harper hides his intentions. We can not trust him. The Bloc is still the only party in Quebec able to stop Stephen Harper."

Harper essentially says the parties had nothing better to do, than to pick on his government. "We're having an election because the other three political parties saw an opportunity to go after the government. That's fine. I don't think Canadians agree. I think Canadians think we should not be focused on parliamentary squabbling."

He says keeping the economy growing is the key to guiding Canada through tough times.

"We want to keep our economy on track so we can continue to fund and increase funding for our health care system. The choice Mr. Ignatieff puts before you and the other parties, that you somehow have  to choose between the military, and health care, you somehow have to choose raising taxes if you want to keep benefits, it's a false choice."

Ignatieff says spending on health care is the most important thing money should be spent on. "This comes down to a moment of choice. You can either spend it on corporate tax breaks, multi-million dollar expenditure on prisons, billions on jets, big gifts to upper-middle class Canadians to reduce their taxes, or you can support health care."

And Jack Layton's position? "New doctors and nurses, much more affordable life with credit card fees capped, and with new job creation programs as well as protecting your pension."

tiffiant

The French version of the debate takes place today.

Analysis


How much of an effect will the debate have on the next round of polling numbers? "I don't think the numbers will change much at all," says Doug McArthur, a political science professor at SFU.

He believes no one got badly damaged or received that telling blow during the debate. Having said that, McArthur believes Harper and Layton did better than Ignatieff and Duceppe.

He explains the Conservative leader surprised him a bit. "He seems to have backed off on the Coalition argument. I think that's a good idea. I don't think his Coalition argument was working. The issue came up; he didn't get in right at the start, pushing the coalition line that he's been pushing."

As for Michael Ignatieff, McArthur feels he made a mistake by pushing the argument the Conservatives have no respect for democracy. "A lot of that was about parliament and about what went on inside parliament. I don't think that message is nearly as strong as their real concerns about the economy and health care."

And when it comes to Ignatieff tweeting during the debate, McArthur felt it was a little too clever. "It was planned, they wanted people to see that. The idea was that he would then be seen as being 'hip' and with the tweeter-generation. I would not have advised doing it, and I think he made a mistake by doing that."

Who came out on top?

Greg Lyle with Innovative Research has been looking at the overnight poll results and tells News1130 there were no clear winners. "No one has said anything that caused Canadians to do a double-take -- to say 'that's not what I expected,' or 'that makes me re-consider what I'm doing.'"

"Harper's probably the biggest winner," he explains. "Because he didn't lose, and because he's already ahead in the polls."

tiffiant

Party leaders stand together before the televised leaders' debate.