Largely civil and respecting of the others' time to speak, at times cross talking and verbally sparring, the Alberta leadership debate covered many issues in a comparatively brief amount of time, but left a lot to be desired.
The 90-minute broadcast delivered no substantial surprises or knockout blows, self-inflicted or otherwise.
For the most part, the performances by front-runners NDP incumbent Rachel Notley and the UCP premier hopeful Jason Kenney, as well as the happy-to-get-airtime Alberta Party’s Stephen Mandel and the Liberal Party's David Khan, were predictable.
Pipelines, taxes, climate change, education, GSAs, health care and leadership — issues that already have been on the public’s radar, and issues that the candidates have already largely staked their stances on.
Perhaps the most entertaining part was listening to each candidate struggle to enunciate LGBTQ without stumbling. To be fair, with barely seconds to address a serious issue, that acronym really is quite a tongue twister to throw into the mix.
Kenney, largely articulate as usual, projected a bit and tried to play the victim card, saying the NDP is attacking with smears and fear.
Meanwhile his party has been doing the same for years, stoking fears of economic Armageddon and accusing his opposition of basically embarking on a radical socialist ideological crusade to destroy Alberta.
The former Conservative MP also could have been mistaken for a well-compensated oil and gas lobbyist eager to convince Albertans that a vast, insatiable demand exists for our oil and gas just beyond our grasp.
A pipeline, apparently, will bring us back to economic prosperity, even during a time when global prices remain abysmally low when compared with the days of $120-plus per barrel.
He basically, like every previous conservative government in Alberta, is banking on a golden egg and did not offer any inspirational long-term vision to transition towards new technologies.
Meanwhile, Notley at one point quoted MLK’s famous words to “judge a person by the content of their character,” and said pointing out Kenney’s track record is not an attack. Time and time again, the man not only failed to support progress towards LGBTQ rights but also even actively campaigned proudly to suppress them.
The RCMP investigation into the kamikaze candidate and fraudulent campaign financing are also legitimate issues and not baseless smears.
However, instead of focusing so much of what little time she had on Kenney’s UCP, Notley would likely have benefited more from talking about her own government’s success stories, such as reducing by half the level of childhood poverty in Alberta in a mere four years.
Khan lacked charisma, and just seemed to largely unenthusiastically recite talking points followed by brief, insincere smiles after monotonous statements. He occasionally joined the crosstalk. Not that I really disagreed with the Liberal candidate on most of his policy positions, but he really didn’t seem to have his spirit in it.
Mandel, who stood by unimpressed during the other party leaders’ crosstalk, throwing in the occasional “this is sad,” seemed to hold his own ground and made some valid points across the board. I would have found myself hard pressed to disagree with much of what he said. But there was nothing particularly captivating.
Some swing voters who were still on the fence might have conceivably been swayed one way or another. Those who have already all but sworn fealty to their party of choice are unlikely to have been persuaded to have a sudden change of heart.
A week from now, the election results will be calculated and the only certainty is that whatever the outcome, Albertans on either side of the political spectrum will still be work colleagues, neighbours, family and, hopefully, friends.
