After the All-Candidates

[dewline]

I went to the Ottawa-Orleans All-Candidates Meeting last night. I've got to say that it was lively down at the old Cumberland Town Hall Building's Orleans Theatre.

Very lively.

We have a full half-dozen candidates in Ottawa-Orleans, as I think I mentioned a blog entry or two ago with that Ontario Votes 2007 link. Each likely has their own strengths and weaknesses, and I have to admit that I'm not doing a very good job of keeping my own longstanding biases out of my assessments. Still, some impressions seem to stick with me.



Jeremy Atkinson - Family Coalition Party: If the brochure his handlers gave me as they settled themselves into their own seats was anything to go by, these are the people who are...shall we say, more pro-traditional family than even the most socially conservative of the Conservatives might be comfy admitting to being. "Family values" came up on their brochures and lawn signs. The man himself looks as young as his Conservative Party competition, and if it weren't for the social angle, he could almost fill in for...

David McGruer - Freedom Party: At the display out front, he had a copy of the Canadian Bill of Rights as originally championed by John Diefenbaker. On the stage, he renewed the impression left by some of his columns for The Star of being more of a disciple of Ayn Rand's Objectivism than anything else. Paraphrases on her comments about the right - or lack of same - on the part of government to "initiate force" kept coming up in his answers to many of the questions put to him. He also spoke of what he sees as the need to put many aspects of what Ontario does via its provincial government into the hands of the private sector and leave those aspects there.

Akbar Manoussi - Green Party: Carleton University professor, specialising in business/economics. If there's one thing I can say about the Green Party as presently constituted, it's this: there seems to be an odd fiscal-conservative streak taking hold in the ranks of the modern Canadian Green. Not so odd, perhaps, is the pragmatic streak that seems to have been welded onto that. I have to wonder if maybe they need a tad more of the old idealism, although Manoussi did let that show through here and there over the course of the evening.

Phil McNeely - Liberal Party: Incumbent. He used to be on Ottawa City Council, and the experience shows as much as the incumbency. I give him full marks for two occasions during the "questions from the public" phase of the evening where he freely admitted that he was not satisfied with the answers he was able to give his constituents - such as myself two nights earlier at my front door when I brought up the issue of the de-listing of eye exams from the province's medicare funding - anymore than the constituents were.

Andrée Germain - New Democratic Party: Self-admitted first-timer, and one who's been active at a volunteer level with issues such as harm reduction for addicts before she decided to throw her metaphorical hat into the ring. She did not answer every question put to her, but that may not be a bad thing for a first-timer. The idealism showed through more with her, as did the enthusiasm. I liked her invocation of the spirit of "If not me, who? If not now, when?"

Graham Fox - Progressive Conservative Party: As young as Atkinson, but better schooled in how to present himself. Moved fast to make his points and move on.

One thing that really grated on me as the night progressed: Fox and McNeely came equipped with their own respective cheering sections, and those choruses were not exactly shy about making themselves known as such. The more often they piped up, the more obnoxious I found it. The occasional jokes from Fox and McGruer(among others) didn't grate quite so much as either the cheering sections or the rhetorical repetition that candidates of all stripes risked practicing as part of the trade.

And that's about it for my impressions at the moment, but for one sketch I drew while the festivities were in progress.


In case anyone's wondering who's on the "page" in descending order: Atkinson, McGruer, Manoussi, McNeely, Germain, and Fox.

More if/when I think it over...and back to you!

Comments

[steve-roby.livejournal.com]

The problem with our parliamentary system (though it's a system that has strengths, as well, of course) is that for me, my local MP or MPP is largely irrelevant when it comes to deciding for whom to vote. I'm concerned about who ends up as PM or premier, and that determines how I cast my vote.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

That's the ongoing problem, isn't it? The individual MP or MPP might have a great deal of useful contribution to make, but it often depends on how tight a grip the party leader (wants to) ensure having on the reins.

[madlycool.livejournal.com]

It's better than the American system, though, where there is no party discipline, and each Member of Congress votes according to his or her "conscience", a. k. a. campaign donors. I frankly vote for party and not person.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking that's got to be a better way than either of these options, though. Even when "conscience" actually means conscience rather than campaign donors in the latter scenario.