Front- runners played defence
Restrained Mulcair gave Trudeau, May an opportunity to skate
You only had to look at the smile glued on Tom Mulcair’s face Thursday night to see this election is different from the ones that came before it.
Mulcair, who is often ferocious in the House of Commons, gave a deliberately muted and restrained performance in the debate, trying to project a prime ministerial air, a first for an NDP leader at the beginning of a campaign. He approached the debate like the coach of a hockey team with a one- goal lead in the third period, playing defence, trying to avoid coughing up the puck.
It makes me think that his party’s internal numbers must be really good.
Most polls show him either ahead of the Conservatives or tied with them, which should mean that he will become prime minister, since Stephen Harper likely needs a majority to hang on to power this fall and that could be tough.
Mulcair’s team has obviously had him practising his smile, restraining his temper, turning him from Angry Tom to Smiling Tom. It’s worked pretty well, although he often looks nervous, which is appropriate for the coach of a team with a one- goal lead in a big game.
But Mulcair may be thinking today that he should have taken more shots. His restrained approach gave the prime minister a break from his chief tormentor, and Justin Trudeau and Elizabeth May took the opportunity to skate.
May likely helped herself the most, since she could demonstrate her policy depth and ease to people who don’t normally pay much attention.
Trudeau mixed it up with Harper and Mulcair, which ought to give a boost to Liberal morale. A key exchange was on the Clarity Act, which Mulcair has promised to repeal, allowing Quebec to separate with a simple majority of 50 per cent plus one.
In an intense exchange, Trudeau accused Mulcair of saying one thing in French and another in English, softpedalling a plan that would make it easier for Quebec to separate.
Mulcair, expecting the attack, asked Trudeau what number would be acceptable to him.
“Nine,” said Trudeau, meaning the nine justices of the Supreme Court.
It was not a knockout blow, but it was a pretty good shot, and Trudeau may have raised doubts about Mulcair’s position among English Canadians who might reasonably wonder why the NDP wants to make it easier to break up the country.
Mulcair can’t change this position, which he inherited from Jack Layton, who adopted it in 2006 in an attempt to appeal to the soft nationalists who backed the Bloc Québécois. The only good thing about the position is that it worked, breaking the Bloc’s stranglehold on the Quebec electorate in 2011.
I find the threat overblown and was glad to see the Bloc reduced, but Trudeau, who is not in the game with francophone Quebecers, may get a boost with anglophones from this. Harper may also get a bump in the polls. His opponents rattled him in exchanges on the economy, the Senate and the environment, but he stuck to his message, treating his opponents with appropriate respect, avoiding humiliation and even seeming to enjoy himself.
Harper often looks isolated, delivering messages designed only to motivate his base. On Thursday he made his pitch to a broader constituency, showing he’s ready to go into the corners and fight for the puck, reminding us that he won the last three elections and might yet win this one.
He approached the debate like the coach of a hockey team with a one- goal lead in the third period, playing defence, trying to avoid coughing up the puck. It makes me think that his party’s internal numbers must be really good. Stephen Maher