It can’t be easy to be one-eighth of a travelling political roadshow, when all eight of you belong to the same party, all have the same goal in mind, and all want you to choose them over the other seven to help attain that goal.
That’s life for the eight NDP-ers who want to become party leader, to replace the late Jack Layton, and to overthrow the wicked Stephen Harper Conservative government at the earliest possible opportunity. And to do all that without saying anything too too negative about the other candidates. They’re all brothers and sisters, after all.
They did pretty much fill a 700-seat theatre in Halifax on a sunny Sunday afternoon and they handily held the interest of that audience during a discussion of issues — child-care, health care, housing and pensions were most-often mentioned — and how each of them would lead the party and the country out of the Harper wilderness.
No one “won” this debate. In fact, in conversation later, my family agreed that we were struck by how competent and knowledgeable and self-assured all the candidates were. The audience didn’t seem to favour one or the other of the candidates and the biggest applause came for two different references to proportional representation and two references to Alexa McDonough — here in Nova Scotia, always a safe bet for applause in an NDP crowd.
The candidates did show some differences in how they viewed the issues but most of the differences among them came out in how they would approach solutions. In the end, many people voting for their new leader may vote on the basis of which personality appeals the most. Bearing in mind that they all come across as competent, progressive and personable, here are some impressions that were left with me:
Whether or not he’s the front-runner (which he was at one point), Brian Topp talks like a front-runner. He sounds confident, he mentions his winning roles in previous campaigns (and his close relationship with Jack), he gives the impression of understanding power.
Thomas Mulcair, another considered to be among the front-runners, showed a spot of the testiness and impatience that are part of his reputation when, more than once, the audience was reminded — by the other candidates — of his political origins in the Quebec Liberal Party.
Our 17-year-old son was drawn to Nathan Cullen, which I could quite understand. He comes across as straightforward, sincere, casual and easy-going — which is not to say he doesn’t also seem serious about his position and passionate about his causes. The other candidates came down hard on him for his position that the NDP should co-operate with other parties in ridings where it would be appropriate in order to soundly defeat the Conservatives.
Peggy Nash is an inspiration: she inspires confidence and exudes warmth. She’s articulate and she invokes her impressive experience to good effect.
Paul Dewar is an attractive candidate who has a lot of support in political circles. In this debate, he was the first candidate to mention midwifery, he invoked his feminist mother (Marion Dewar) and he mentioned his experiences as a stay-at-home dad. These references were popular with the audience. *
In a format like this, Martin Singh, the only candidate without political experience, is able to make a respectable impression; he’s well-spoken and sticks to his issues.
The youngest candidate is by no means the least experienced. Niki Ashton is, by now, a seasoned MP and her composure underlines that. She is clearly working to appeal to a demographic that may be disillusioned and to show that politics can still incorporate ideals.
I’ve seen a lot of support for Romeo Saganash around the Internet and it’s not hard to understand why. He gives such a strong sense of his life experience and he expresses so well his vision of an improved Canada for everyone. (The hint of laryngitis didn’t hinder his expressiveness.)
I liked that all the candidates came across as “regular” people. They were sophisticated but not slick, political but not stereotypes of “politicians,” most of them were genuinely funny without sounding rehearsed. They all have well-done websites so it will be easy for voting NDP-ers to find the one who is most appealing from a political standpoint.
I think members of the NDP should be proud to have a such a remarkable field of candidates to vote for. But in the end, personality and “winnability” may be big factors that will also be considered.
* In the first version of this post, the paragraph about Paul Dewar was inadvertently omitted. My apologies.
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