More fizzle than sizzle

Stephen Harper launched his bid for re-election with a burst of truculence that propelled him through the first week of the campaign. Thomas Mulcair tiptoed into the contest, finally hitting his cruising speed midway through a televised debate with his rivals. Justin Trudeau exceeded expectations, showing he could go head to head with two baby boomers who outrank him in experience and political credentials.

As the first lap of the longest, most-expensive race in the nation’s history drew to an end, it remained unclear to Canadians why Harper interrupted their summer respite to kick off a campaign that so far has neither enlightened nor engaged voters. The party leaders spent the first few days spinning their wheels and tossing brickbats. On Day 5, they met face to face in a Toronto television studio, each performing competently but breaking no new ground.

It all had the aura of dress rehearsal. The debate wasn’t on any of the major television networks. There were still no election signs on people’s lawns. There was no sense that the country is on the brink of a pivotal decision. There was very little political chatter.

But the week provided a few interesting portents of what lies ahead.

After three terms in office, Harper is finding it harder to defend his record. His central project — to make Canada an energy superpower — has run aground; the economy has stalled; the Senate he promised to reform has become a cesspool of misconduct; and people are beginning to see the cost of his wilful blindness on climate change: drought and wild fires in the West, melting glaciers in the North, more violent storms in central and eastern Canada. Harper bobbed and weaved with practised ease, throwing out a barrage of selective statistics in Thursday’s leaders’ debate.

But his adversaries were able to find the flaws, correct his facts and, in a couple of cases, force him to back down. He admitted that the economy has shrunk for five successive months and that there is no prospect of the Keystone XL pipeline going ahead while U.S. President Barack Obama is in office. In each case, he deflected the blame: global uncertainty is holding Canada back; Obama is flouting the will of the American people, the senators who are under police investigation (most of whom he appointed) acted without his knowledge.

The Conservatives’ one attempt to appeal to voters with a $1.5-billion election goody fell flat. Harper tried to revive a 2009 tax credit for taxpayers who renovate their homes. But the 2015 version, which applies only to renovations worth $5,000 or less and wouldn’t be available until “mid-mandate,” elicited a shrug from voters and universal condemnation from economists.

After a cautious start, Mulcair, who is leading in the polls, embraced the role of front-runner, combining the cross-examination skills he sharpened in the House of Commons over the past three years with a platform that came across as safe, sensible and consistent with values that prevailed before Harper took power. The NDP leader is one of those politicians who performs better on camera than on the hustings. The medium allows him to project both sincerity and authority.

Trudeau is the opposite. In face-to-face encounters and crowds, he is relaxed, animated, eager to explain why he wants the country’s highest office and what he would do as prime minister. In Thursday’s televised debate, he was visibly nervous. But he didn’t stumble, didn’t allow himself to be sidelined and didn’t look out of his league. Viewers expecting to see the callow, “just not ready” politician depicted in Tory ads saw instead a prime ministerial aspirant with a sound grasp of the issues and the ability to survive a two-hour debate unscathed.

The Green party can’t be counted out or relegated to also-ran status. Elizabeth May was the best prepared, most agile and surest of her facts of the four contenders in the leaders’ debate.

So far, voters haven’t heard a word about health care, housing, inequality, urban transit or aboriginal inclusion or culture. Most are content to wait till school resumes and politics is back in season.

First leaders’ debate had all the aura of dress rehearsal