So, the fab five have flaunted their fluencies in both official languages. Last night we had a showing of the english debate at the Grawood and I was thoroughly impressed with the turnout from students. Our bar manager was less impressed with the fact that they weren't spending as much on booze as the Trivia crowd on the other side of the bar.
Unfortunately, there was essentially no mention of Post Secondary Education issues. Layton mentioned his plan for relieving family doctor debt during a discussion on health care, but otherwise there was no allotted time for discussion on access to Post Secondary Education or the projected deficit of a skilled and educated workforce with the impending labour shortage in eastern and central Canada. With the Canadian economy destined to follow the path of our southern neighbours it really suprises me that these issues never came up for discussion.
I was unimpressed that Harper went on the attack so early in the debate. Harper spoke first during the debate, and within his first minute of speaking he attacked Dion's economic plan. Its no wonder people get frustrated with the political process when smart, talented individuals like our Prime Minister stoop to this level of discussion so early in a debate, when in reality it should be them defending their plan. The other leaders are guilty of this as well, but Harper was full of criticisms and low on solutions (I'm not saying his solutions are bad ones, I'm saying he simply hasn't shown us what his solution is). Layton laid it down good, "Where’s the platform, under the sweater?"
Dion took the high-road, and it may have earned him some cred, Nanos polls have him closing in on Harper with a five point margin. Back in minority territory.
Over 100 Dal students surveyed on the university website were asked who they felt won the debate:
- 35% picked Captain Planet - Elizabeth May
- 23 % went for Smilin' Jack Layton
- 16% chose Stephen "I still haven't announced a PSE platform" Harper
- 16% said Stephane "Arts are Fun" Dion
- 9% were watching the wrong debate
- 1% liked the seperatist
May got several good one liners in against Harper last night, and did a good job at explaining Dion's carbon tax for him. Unfortunately we didn't hear much about what seperates the Greens from the Liberals and the NDP, which I think was a question on many viewers minds, including my own.
A lot of people were flicking channels last night. The Biden-Palin debate across the way was the most watched debate in history. Canadians were torn, not a big surprise given that 15% of us would give up our chartered right to vote in Canada, in order to vote for Obama or McCain this November.
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We're still waiting on an announcement from the Conservatives on Post-Secondary Education. They gave us a teaser announcement on apprenticeships today, which takes the form of a $2000 completion bonus. Let's hope they put more thought into their university related announcements, because this program is not targeted, nor is the grant provided up front. This means that it does relatively little for removing barriers to individuals wishing to pursue apprenticeships. What it does do is provide financial relief to individuals already enrolled in an apprenticeship program.
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