Apolitical Staples

OK, with the guessing game out of the way I can get my thoughts on last nights event in Kitchener.

Pretty impressive crowd at Bingemans - I overheard someone say there were 300 people there. I will give my review of the candidates based on the order they spoke.

Joe Volpe: This guy needs to leave now. I did not think it was possible but 99% of the crowd gave this guy the cold shoulder. The obligatory clapping was way less for him and most people around me were snickering when he spoke. He is now embarrassing himself (well that is nothing new) and the other candidates by sticking around.

Bob Rae: He had a couple of funny lines but I sensed the crowd wasn't with him. He is an excellent speaker though. I have said it before but the test of leadership is how you do in tough circumstances. He failed. Does anything else need to be said?

Gerrard Kennedy: I got a bit of the sense of why some support him as they do. Another polished speaker but I think Stephane Dion was correct to nail him with the no original ideas label.

Martha Hall-Findlay: Maybe it is because she has not been a Member of Parliament that makes her an outsider or maybe it is just her but whatever it is I find it very impressive. The other candidates use their buzzwords and talking points as a way of stiffling debate whereas she tries to go beyond platitudes - though it is tough given the format. She said she was ashamed at the anti-American attacks wrt to the environment during the last campaign. She said that day care is not a woman's issue it is a parents issue. The Party needs to give a reason for Canadians to vote for them not a reason to vote against the Conservatives (a trap that Bob Rae is still in).

As an aside this is why I find history so fascinating. She lost to Belinda Stronach by 684 votes in 2004. If 345 people voted for Ms. Hall-Findlay instead of Ms. Stronach everything could have been different in the last government. The Liberals would have had enough seats to form a coalition with the NDP. There would have been no floor crossing, no Minister fo Complex Files, who knows? with a formal coaltion there may have not been a Mr. Dithers. Yes folks, elections do matter.

Hedy Fry: If confidence won leadership campaigns this one would be in the bag. Problem is that I doubt anybody has a tenth of the confidence in her as she does in herself.

Update: I forgot one thing. Ms. Fry described Canada as a little country to use the line we are the little country that could. Little country...that is the most politically tone deaf thing I have heard in a while. Canada is not a little country, we are a huge country, a limitless country, a vibrant G8 nation. Describing Canada as a little country should be enough to disqualify her from the race. But she really isn't in the race so that would be redundant.

Ken Dryden: Clearly won the night. I am not sure if the room was stacked with previous supporters or if he won them over but he the only candidate who would get consistent spontaneous applause during his answers. He seems to have grown as a public speaker and is less boring than he used to be.

Scott Brison: A professional politician. And I mean that as an insult. He has got his talking points down perfectly but when some (all?) are different know than they were when he was a PC leadership candidate (Kyoto for instance) I have a hard time believing anything he says. The crowd was polite but I did not sense any groundswell of support.

Maurizio Bevilacqua: What a complete waste of time this guy is. Maybe he was having a rough night but he looked like he was going through the motions. His answers were read from notes with no passion. How can I be interested in what someone is saying if they are not interested themselves? It would not surprise me if he were the first to drop out.

Carolyn Bennett: Frenetic. That is the only word I can use to describe her. She seems to have some interesting ideas but she is so rushed to get them out they become incomprehensible. Maybe her Sunday MSN chats are better because that was one of her only messages to sink in.

So there you have it. Take my opinions for what they are worth because I am not a Liberal supporter. If I were to give any friendly advice it would that Martha Hall-Findlay is on the right path by being willing to challenge sacred Liberal cows. The returns for sticking to the talking points are diminishing as the NDP and CPC encroach from either side so new ideas and approaches are required. Maybe you need to display your Liberal bona fides to win the leadership but I think it can just as easily make you unelectable later on. So keep on challenging Ms. Hall-Findlay and I will keep being impressed from the sidelines.