Thumbs down to boutique debates
Re Don’t stay with these boutique debates, Sept. 20 Not only are candidates not “facing voters” in local ridings with townhall-style debates, they are also muzzled by their leaders from discussing any issues. The party line flows top down from the leaders to the candidates, not up from the needs of constituents they are supposed to serve in Ottawa.
With controlled messages, there can be no debate. My elected representative has never responded to a single email or concern, so what is the point of his job?
Also voters know little about the backgrounds of the candidates, their education, expertise, if any, and are asked to vote based on a party, a picture and a promise. Not much of a democratic choice. Diane Sullivan, Toronto Susan Delacourt writes that the Globe’s Calgary debate consisted of “shouting men . . . and a woman trying to make herself heard from the outside.” Where was moderator David Walmsley, whose job it was to get the shouters to shut up and take their proper turn? Rosemary Barton on Power and Politics has the same problem daily. Overlapping voices may be great drama but a blend of Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau is about as useful as a bunch of tomcats yowling at 2 a.m. on the back porch.
As for Elizabeth May’s being shut out of the debate, the Globe should be ashamed of itself. At least we know that she wouldn’t have been a shouter because she knows what the word debate actually means. Geoff Rytell, Toronto A sad day for women and girls across Canada, when the leader of the fourth largest political party doesn’t get invited to the debate on the economy because she’s a woman. She added a critical voice of reason at the Maclean’s debate. No matter how much Harper wants to make us into Little America there are still a few things we do differently here. We allow for more voices at the table and we don’t have a two-party system.
It saddens me to see an intelligent, poignant May having to pathetically tweet her remarks. The Globe barely explained their reason for excluding her, couldn’t muster up a female moderator, and hardly asked the pointed questions that May was quick to tweet from her shunned corner.
What does this say to our girls about their future potential? You can try but you will never have a voice at the Big Boys’ table. Bitter, ashamed and disappointed in our current government, and the political climate it has created. Here’s to hoping for a better future. Dr. Sarah Khan, Toronto