I'd say Harper one that one.

+1

Do you mean won that one?

Could you justify your opinion? He stonewalled by uttering a series of lies, as usual.

At least his wig didn't fall off.

I didn't see it. Working for a totally ungrateful legal aid client.

What a stupid time to put it on, when half of the Provinces are getting home from work or having their tea.

Anyway, I see the ungracious ones haven't changed their tune.

I can't wait until it's all over and the electorate have spoken. Surely, that is the only opinion poll that matters.

That thought did cross my mind as well. but no doubt folk in Alberta have no need of debate to decide how they'll vote.

Let them eat tea.

He meet every challenge that was thrown at him, it was 3 against 1 for pretty much long stretches (when the other ones were supposed to be addressing each other they often keep whining about Harper). He didn't let the other "leaders" outshine him, he called out the others who tried to make blanket statements like you did and the others could not back up the claims. So what about you justifying your opinion on the bold part of your quote? What did you think about the conservatives stance on immigration?

Pretty straightforward for Harper.

I think that you are describing all politicians the world over, not just in Canada! - Nice way to say that they are all guilty of talking bollocks though!

Anyone playing buzzword bingo would have shouted "house" within the first couple of minutes.

Was Harper using a teleprompt? I thought he was vile.
Iggy was a dork. Was he pissed? He belched at one point.
Duceppe was having fun (the Anglo debate is of no consequence to him).
I think Layton did well. I predict that the NDP will get stronger in QC. Jack has been putting himself about on much-watched TV shows here and he has made himself quite popular. It would not surprise me in the least if Gatineau turned orange this time.

I look forward to the debate in French. Harper and Iggy are not very good with French. Layton is.

Harper was his normal cold, deadeyed self, calm and collected, pivoting everything to the economy and we don't need an election at this time, it's all their (the opposition's) fault etc. Sadly, he came over the best of the four of them.

Iggy, stumbled and got mired in soundbites and platitudes. He didn't score any zingers. Duceppe didn't give a cluck as Souvy says. Tonight is his night. Layton probably came across the best but since he has zero chance of forming a government on his own, the rhetoric about what a NDP govt would do, is well, just rhetoric.

The worst thing about the debate was the set. Grey and yellow corrogated iron? Very 80's.

I was out, so didnt see it (a blessing), but the summaries Ive read indicate that
Harper stuck mostly to two points

The economy is in good shape so dont rock the boat. In my view the shape of the economy is largely the result of not messing with previous liberal policies anyway.

The other point was that it was the other parties who are responsible for this election happening and he should have a majority to stop it happening again... which totally ignores the fact that it takes two to tango and that his government was behaving arrogantly in not giving the information that was needed for decision making and in expecting one of the other parties to fall into line. "Vote for me so I can have a majority" is not a policy.

As a side issue, if the final report on the g8 spending hasnt been tabled yet, how do the Conservatives know whats in it, and why would the auditor general wade in with public rebukes of the conservatives misquoting of bits of it unless they were out of order.

I would imagine its getting pretty hard for conservative supporters to defend their governments repeated slurs on democracy. Where are we at now? I make it two largely unprecedented proroguings, a finding of contempt of parliament, and an auditor general who is having to publicly correct the interpretation of a few conservative MPs on a report that was critical of them before its even been published? It paints a pretty shabby picture. The conservatives seem to have lost sight of the fact that a majority of the electorate voted for policies other than theirs last time and they do not have a mandate to do whatever they like and expect their minority partner to go along with it.

Given this, I'm at a loss to understand why the Tories have such a lead in the opinion polls at present.

Newspapers are saying today that Duceppe is going large on sovereignty tonight. He fired the warning shots last night when he went for Layton on Bill 101.

This seems risky. The NDP is gaining ground in QC. If Duceppe cocks it up, lots of people will defect from the Bloc, to the NDP. My missus used to be pretty strong on sovereignty but has outgrown it (she got bored listening to Duceppe yesterday) and will vote NDP. She may well not be alone.

Harper's best bet tonight would be to keep his gob shut and spend two hours stroking a stray kitten, while watching the other three rip each other to bits.

I believe that this is the position of most of the electorate - they rely on others to tell them what happened, not only with debates, but with most things.

That being the case (and I will leave it to others to debate that position) it appears to me that, unless one leader totally screws up, or does something outstanding, it is "as you were" so to speak.

Will anyone outside of Quebec, really care about what happens in the French one (even if they can speak French)?

The power of negative advertising. Vote for us because we're not as bad as them.

Sure, Iggy has failed to provide a vision, a reason to vote Liberal other than they are not Conservative. But the relentless advertising campaign put him far too far on the defensive from the start. Having successfully portrayed him as someone who is only interested in power (oh! the irony) any attempt by the Liberals to portray positive ideas is easily dismissed as insincere and evidence of a hidden agenda.

They did exactly the same to Dion.

It has been said, and I tend to agree, that the Liberals need a good Conservative majority to get back into power. They simply cannot find a way to fight the negative non-agenda of the Tories.