MacDougall: Leaders’ debates played to both Carney’s and Poilievre’s strengths

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, Liberal leader Mark Carney and New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh used the English-language debate to try to get their message out. Photo by ADRIAN WYLD /POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesArticle content

Debates matter in political campaigns. Or maybe they did, but no longer do? Or perhaps they hadn’t come to matter, but now do thanks to the massive interest in current events prompted by Donald Trump. Whatever the case, (INSERT YOUR PREFERRED CANDIDATE) won this week’s federal election debates. Unless they didn’t. In that case, the debates probably didn’t matter.

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Although a cynic at heart, I believe this week’s two federal election debatesdid matter. Most people don’t track politics closely, and most people couldn’t name anyone in the federal cabinet or their role, other than the prime minister. And while Mark Carney is that prime minister, he’s been prime minister for less than a month and isn’t known to most Canadians. The debates were Carney’s first introduction to Canadians and, as such, things went fairly well. And when you’re ahead, fairly well is good, often enough.

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What might make Carney’s case an exception to the above rule is that his first few months in political public life have witnessed the complete resuscitation of the faded federal Liberal brand. To the casual observer, the Liberal revival has been a miracle, which would make Carney either God or his son. But by this Easter, most Canadians will have only seen a man, and a quite low-key and boring one at that. There was no stardust in either of the Carney performances. The 2015 version of Justin Trudeau was a supernova in comparison.

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The debates were Carney’s first introduction to Canadians and, as such, things went fairly well.Article content

The trickier task for Carney was the French-language debate where, by all accounts, he handled himself well. Sometimes boring is the best strategy. And with the bar low thanks to doubts about Carney’s French, handling himself well is akin to a win. The only thing the Liberals couldn’t afford was a car crash; all Carney received was a few sideswipes.

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The route to a smooth performance by Carney in the French debate was paved by the forever inept NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who somehow thinks he is in a battle with Conservatives, when it is the Liberals who are pocketing his voters. Equally poor was Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, whose tribe might not like being Canadians but who are apparently more afraid of becoming Americans. Blanchet was — oddly — more effective in English, where he could revert to Bloc type.

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Forget Pierre Poilievre and the decisions of his campaign. The main story of this election remains the drift of Bloc and NDP support toward the Liberals. That Singh, the leader of a supposedly socialist party, is losing support to a former Goldman Sachs banker is quite the trick. The debates were Singh’s best chance to reverse these trends but he rolled over and played stupid instead by constantly bickering with and interrupting Poilievre.