don't shoot the pianist
he is doing the best he can

Every federal leaders’ debate, much ado is made about “knockout punches”—the critical one-liner or moment that leaves an opponent not scrambling for words, but completely defeated. Brian Mulroney’s famous “You had a choice” attack on John Turner in the 1984 debate is invoked as an example of a debate which had a massive effect on public opinion.

Yet the fact is that such knockout punches haven’t happened in the twenty-four years since. Party leaders these days spend too much time on debate preparation for that to happen. So while it promises to be a good show and there may even be plenty of fireworks, don’t expect anybody’s political career to end tonight.

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I got a new phone a couple of days ago. Pre-installed in the Games section were the demo versions of Tetris, Wheel of Fortune, a logic game, and something called “Surviving High School”. I’ll spare the details, but suffice it to say that I had no idea that high school life was nothing more than a finite state automaton.

Who buys these games, anyway?

After a few days of public wrangling that included threats of a lawsuit, the Green Party yesterday won its fight with the consortium of Canadian broadcast networks that produce the federal party leaders’ debates. Green leader Elizabeth May will be participating.

To me, that’s unfortunate. Make a few threats to the right people, with a few able lawyers to back you up, and you’ll generally get what you want. But enough about the Green Party’s tactics. Significantly more relevant are the arguments the Greens have used to justify a place at the debates.

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The main story on the Canadian federal election on the CBC yesterday featured a large picture of Conservative leader Stephen Harper visiting a family’s home in Richmond. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Already, British Columbia looks to be a major battleground for all three federalist parties—Harper and NDP leader Jack Layton both spent yesterday in the Vancouver area—and Richmond is a shining example.

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