Federal Leaders Debate

So the debate is done. The commentary is vast and all over the web.

The general consensus (from different stripes of blogs) is that Harper did okay, and likely didn’t hurt his image (much), Layton did good to awesome, Dion was okay, but not impressive, May did great (but didn’t add any message about the Green Party that was really much different than the Liberals or NDP), and Duceppe was there to stir stuff up.

Here’s some of Layton’s one-liners:

• “The economy is not fine… either you don’t care or you’re incompetent,” (to Harper)
• “I find what you’re saying, Mr. Harper, incredulous. You’re criticizing the Liberals for cutting back in health care. You’re right on that. But guess who was urging them to cut back more? Guess who was urging them to privatize the health care system? You led a citizens group that had that as one of its main objectives and now you want a majority government?”
• “You supported Mr. Harper 43 times. His policies, your responsibility… You can’t do your job as Leader of the Opposition. I don’t know what you’re doing running for Prime Minister.” (to Dion, also see video)
• “Where’s your platform? Under your sweater? You haven’t presented one in this election.” (to Harper)

The really impressive thing, is that with Layton giving two strong performances (if not winning) in the debates is that enough people are willing to support the NDP that DemocraticSpace and VoteForEnvironment.ca are both predicting marginal wins for Linda Duncan and the NDP in Edmonton-Strathcona.

There’s still a week or so left in the campaigns, so let’s keep up the fight and see how things roll out.

Also remember: advanced polling is this weekend, so if you can’t vote on October 14 find out where to vote today.