02 Jun Live-blogging the debate
6:55: The very small crowd is getting seated in the very small space in The Alexander Graham Bell Museum National Historic Site where the leaders will debate. There is seating for 70 in the shadow of Bell’s HD-4 Hydrofoil.
Contrarian will be live blogging.
7:12: Twelve minutes into the debate, the sound track in the media room is working.
7:14: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
7:15: There was much back and forth among organizers and the three parties over seating for leaders during the debate, because McNeil, at 6’5, towers over the other two. The Tory solution, apparently, is for MacDonald to stand each time he speaks. The N-dips, apparently, are content to let Dexter sit, seemingly at ease at 3/4 height.
7:22: Rodney turns a question about wage freezes for civil servants into a jibe at Dexter over ties to trade unions. But the tame format of the debate precludes any follow-up.
7:25: Moneyquote Understatement of the debate so far: Rodney MacDonald, asked about whether the legislature should sit longer during the year: “There is nowhere more that I would like to be right now than sitting in the legislature.” You betcha. Rest of debate after the jump.
7:26: Altogether now, 1, 2, 3: bash NSP.
7:30: Note to CBC, Herald, and party leaders. This is not a debate. It is a rather sterile forum for questions and set-piece answers.
7:32: Rodney MacDonald addresses 85-year-old questioner by her first name, “Lily.” Patronizing.
7:33: Dexter shills his 8% carbon subsidy, a program that will encourage consumption of dirty, coal-fired electricity.
740: “Twitter” is the technology, Norma Lee. A message sent via Twitter is a “tweet.”
7:40: Excellent question from former CBC host Ian McNeil. How comfortable are you with the Safer Neighborhoods Act which lets people be evicted from their homes without charge, let alone a conviction? All three leaders stand up for this Alice-in-Wonderland provision, in which punishment comes first, evidence and verdict later, if ever.
7:47: CBC online poll at its liveblog not looking good for the premier.
7:48: MacDonald not only plays the fiddle, he worked on a lobster boat!
7:52: If you can’t say something nice, well, say something nice anyway. Best response: MacDonald: “Both my opponents are good at being critics, and I intend to see that they get to continue doing that for a long time.”
7:55: Contrarian doesn’t like it when call center agents presume to use first names of people they call, and I don’t like it when Rodney MacDonald presumes to address every questioner by first name. Dexter just did it too.
7:58: Two leaders came into the race needing to land some punches, in order to stop Dexter from cruising to a majority. Inhibited by a strait-jacket format, they landed none. This debate didn’t hurt Dexter, which is another way of saying it helped him.
7:58: What a HORRIBLE format!
7:59: Strong close by Dexter. McNeil is doing fine as a man for another time.