Man; we don't have a psychopathic beauty queen running for office, but (IMHO) the debate between Canadian leaders tonight was much more interesting than watching Biden/Palin get slow-pitched all evening (yawn).

Jack Layton has policies I find compelling (and, tonight, was the only person willing to regularly bring-up issues that are particularly sticky, like our aboriginal prison population), but the man has some serious issues with being a team player. Clearly it was the goal of just about everyone else at the table to smack around Harper and more or less 'play nice' with the rest of the kids, but Layton insisted on levelling arguments against the Liberals too. Moreover, Layton wasn't willing to take any ownership for his in-House voting partnershipswith Harper since the Conservatives won their minority and (sigh) I'm fairly sure he tied with Harper in spewing the most audacious BS in the room.

Harper was... well. Harper. Refusing to take any ownership of statements he made in the past regarding program cuts to arts programs based on the content of the art, pretending that *his* environmental policies were 'fair and balanced' (Gee, Stephen, do you mean the original policies, or the ones that the other parties had to fight with you to get implemented). I'm sorry, but no - economic needs and environmental needs cannot be balanced - one must necessarily make sacrifices for the other.

He was also spewing the traditional Christian / Conservative rhetoric about how crime can apparently be decreased by increasing prison sentences. Yup. Because that's definately what science has to say about it...

Elizabeth May (whose presence at the debate, despite her party satisfying the criteria to attend the debate, was nearly barred by Jack Layton and Stephen Harper whom threatened a boycott of the event - but then proved to be chicken shits on top of everything else by not manning-up to the words out of their own mouths) was, again, very compelling; but her ideas with regards to foreign policy are head-shakingly lacking. No, Liz: we shouldn't be staying in Afghanistan longer!

The Taliban, like the various guerilla organizations blowing-up Americans in Iraq, cannot somehow be defeated with tanks and army men. They have no permanent bases to destroy, no factories to capture, no vehicles to disable, no supply lines to cut; all they have are teenagers with submachine guns and IEDs. This means that you will always trade your assets at a loss to them, because you're the only side with significant assets to lose. There are ways to defeat a loose and chaotic oganization like the Taliban, but not through use of conventional force.

I wish I could vote for Gilles Duceppe, some days. The man is incredibly intelligent (actually, until May and Dion were in the arena, I don't think anyone came at all close to matching Duceppe's raw intelligence and historical knowledge). I am curious as to what the Bloc would really do in power, though: hold a referendum on Quebec's seperation, watch it flop, and then... just run things more or less along similar lines to the liberals?

Odd.

Stephane Dion (He and Gilles, just FYI, were the only two candidates who supported allowing Elizabeth a voice in the debate as per the rules - though Gilles was the only one whom said that he would be attending the debate regardless of whether or not anyone else showed-up. Fuck, that guy is the man...) continues to impress with his worldly knowledge and, frankly, scientific insight. This guy knows sociology. No, like, he actually studied and understands the science.

You know what else?

'While growing up, he remembers being taunted for his family's secularism in a society which was then predominantly Catholic .^[3]'

That's right, motherfuckers: We've got an atheist in the house.

What's more? He's a published academic:

'Between 1987 and 1995, Dion published a number of books and articles on political science, public administration and management.^[11] A collection of Dion's speeches and writings on Canadian unity was published under the title Straight Talk (Le pari de la franchise) in 1999.^[12] Dion was also a guest scholar at the Laboratoire d'économie publique de Paris from 1994 to 1995, a co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Political Science from 1990 to 1993, and a research fellow at the Canadian Centre for Management Development (now part of the Canada School of Public Service) from 1990 to 1991.^[10]'

As an added plus, Dion does not (unlike Stevie) believe that climate change is a socialist conspiracy plot and actually attends the summit meetings. He's also asked Stephen Harper to defend his remarks in a televised debate about the Liberal carbon tax plan being 'crazy', and (of course) Harper has cowardly refused to do so at every turn (he attempted to lie about the plan, while demonstrating his apparently abysmal understanding of mathematics, during the debate - and Dion called him on it. I hope most Canadians saw this?)

So, yeah. This one's my pick (I'll be casting my balot tomorrow).