Debating the debate

Re: Scheer on offence, Oct. 8 One of the problems with getting old is that one remembers how it used to be done even if one glosses over some of the detail.

There was a time that during a 40-day campaign the party leaders criss-crossed the country making speeches outlining their platform and policy. These speeches were reported in the press, often in their entirety.

These speeches have been replaced, on a daily basis, by 13-second sound bites for TV, photo-ops, zingers and knockout blows during debates.

Small wonder the voter turnout is so habitually low.

Perhaps if the leaders had greater respect for the intelligence of the electorate and less regard for the campaign strategists we might wind up with a better and more meaningful campaign. Russel Williams, Georgeville, Que.

Re: The real loser in the debate is the voter, John Ivison, Oct. 8

Are political leaders no longer allowed to express personal convictions on certain issues that are contrary to the current legal framework on said issues?

I applaud political leaders who express and defend these personal convictions, rather than sacrificing them on the landfill site of political correctness. Marc Storjohann, Mississauga, Ont. Like so many others, the debate debacle is more question period than reasoned debate. Note to future broadcasters ... since politicians find it impossible to control their political passions, have the broadcast booth control the microphones. Please!

David Lavender, Winnipeg In my view, the leaders debate was simply a rude exchange of words, often misunderstood due to the continuous speak-overs by Green Leader Elizabeth May, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Bloc Leader YvesFrançois Blanchet.

May was loud, forcefully overbearing and fixated on climate change. Trudeau fixated on Harper. Blanchet was naturally interested in Quebec and only Quebec. The People’s Party Leader Maxime Bernier was Bernier. And Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer was taller than NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and made his intentions clear as the next prime minister.

Overall, it was nothing less than a verbal free-for-all, much like question period in the House. Colin Blackburn, Abbotsford, B.C. There were six leaders vying to become prime minister, yet one of them is representing only Quebec and cannot become PM. Why was he there?

They spent an inordinate amount of time debating Bill 21 which is strictly a Quebec issue of no relevance to the rest of us.

Three of the six are Quebecers. The debate was held in Quebec.

I will give the organizers a bit of credit — they had questioners from British Columbia, Northwest Territories and New Brunswick.

Bill Gruenthal, Burnaby, B.C. What shocks me most about Justin Trudeau’s “blackface” controversy is not that he did it (although I condemn it), but that he actually considers his “privileged” upbringing an acceptable excuse.

Do Canadians actually want a prime minister with that sort of attitude to important issues like race? Clearly, this upbringing also leads him to believe that it’s all right to break ethics laws, browbeat his female Aboriginal justice minister and ignore SNC-Lavalin’s crimes, all to save votes in Quebec.

Trudeau is a spoiled, privileged elitist who also has no qualms about spending billions of borrowed dollars to buy our votes. This is not what I think a prime minister of Canada should be.

I have met and heard Andrew Scheer speak several times. He is from a middle-class family and wants to serve Canada for the right reasons, in my opinion. He is the new, kinder, gentler face of Canadian politics who wants to balance the budget.

If his worst fault is that he holds religious beliefs, that in my mind is not a bad thing, provided he commits (as he has) to keeping those beliefs out of social policies. Remember, John F. Kennedy was also a practicing Catholic.

D.R. Brown, Cochrane, Alta.

Re: Court win for excluded right-wing media, Oct. 8

The news that two media organizations were not given accreditation for the debates and that a journalist was barred from Justin Trudeau’s bus is important.

I am not fond of most North American media, but I fiercely defend the right of citizens to speak their minds and to hear the opinions of others. How a self-proclaimed Leaders’ Debates Commission, set up by the current government that claims to be open, can do this in Canada causes me to fear for our freedom in the future. This is shameful. Charles Hooker,

East Garafraxa, Ont.

Re: What is striking about this election is what is not being talked about, Andrew Coyne, Oct. 8

Andrew Coyne raises a legitimate issue concerning the high proportion of older people in the population in the near future. One thing that might help a bit is for retired people to be given age credits each year to pay for their health care and, if they don’t use them, they can get a 50 per cent (or whatever works) credit for the unused portion.

Kendall Carey, Toronto

A word about

the wizard

Re: Trump threatens Turkey over Kurds, Oct. 8 Isn’t it so appropriate for President Donald Trump, the most powerful man in the world, by his own self-aggrandizing admission, to state that: “… if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey”.

Move over Dorothy and Toto, we all are living in Oz.

Joel Abrams, Toronto

ONLY SCHEER

OR TRUDEAU IS

LIKELY TO WIN.

— KELLY MCPARLAND