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Election Thoughts
Aug. 29th, 2012 11:20 pmSo I went to the Débat des candidats dans Verdun today, arriving a bit late due to work.
misskitty79 saved me a space by the pillar, since it was pretty jam packed (I'd put it at 120 people or so). As some of you know, I've been less than enthused about my options in this election. Due to some prearranged agreement due to time constraints, only 5 representatives were given full time: PLQ, PQ, CAQ, QS, and ON. The Greens and the CUQ had to stay in the back, to be given 5 minutes of time at the end.
My impressions?
Liberal Henri-François Gautrin
--> Did not show up. This probably saved him some serious shit-talking from the crowd.
Parti Québécois Thierry St-Cyr
--> Blew my mind. Progressive, passionate, on top of the issues and knows how to work a crowd, stay on time, answer debate questions, and always work in his core message of "this is why we need a sovereign Quebec". If it wasn't for my deep distrust of Pauline Marois and the PQ, he might have won my vote right here.
Coalition Avenir Québec André Besner
--> Very solid. He's live here for most of his life, decided once he retired he would go into public service. I disagree with most of his fundamental principles, but he struck me as professional, engaged, and was impressively able to take some hits from a crowd that did not like him.
Québec solidaire Chantale Michaud
--> I like a lot about her platform, but she doesn't know how to handle this kind of format. Constantly going over time because she was reading her answers, rather than speaking them, she then got so flustered by being called out on it that when the red sign for no more time went up, she'd just stop mid sentence instead of finishing her thought. This marred what was otherwise some good policy ideas and what appeared to be a very solid knowledge of the local situation.
Green Jeffrey Mackie
--> Only got to speak at the end. Made the effort to do it in French, although it was clearly difficult for him. Just a vague stump speech introduction with no real policy meat.
Option nationale Marc-Antoine Daneau
--> He probably wished he hadn't had a seat for the debate, and had given it to Green. He apparently started with fair support from the crowd, but pissed it away by basically saying independence was the answer to everything. No context, no nuance. Probably just a computer geek who agreed to run. He did get better as the debate went on, which I complimented him on afterwards. That was NOT easy (it got to the point people just started laughing when he started to answer a question) but he stuck with it and clearly learned some just watching the professionals. No way I'd ever vote for a group whose entire platform basically consists of "Why aren't we already splitting off from Canada? We can figure out details later."
Coalition pour la constituante Elisabeth Doyon
--> Did not see this human.
Quebec Citizens' Union Philippe Refghi
--> He gave another quickie 5 minutes speech at the end. OK, but a bit unfocused, with most of it dedicated to the idea of "the old parties are bad, and voting for someone new isn't wasting your vote".
In the end, I am really glad I went. QS seems to have massive support, which surprised me. There is certainly a "dear god, get the liberals out" mood, but vote splitting PQ/QS could be a big deal.
misskitty79 saved me a space by the pillar, since it was pretty jam packed (I'd put it at 120 people or so). As some of you know, I've been less than enthused about my options in this election. Due to some prearranged agreement due to time constraints, only 5 representatives were given full time: PLQ, PQ, CAQ, QS, and ON. The Greens and the CUQ had to stay in the back, to be given 5 minutes of time at the end.
My impressions?
Liberal Henri-François Gautrin
--> Did not show up. This probably saved him some serious shit-talking from the crowd.
Parti Québécois Thierry St-Cyr
--> Blew my mind. Progressive, passionate, on top of the issues and knows how to work a crowd, stay on time, answer debate questions, and always work in his core message of "this is why we need a sovereign Quebec". If it wasn't for my deep distrust of Pauline Marois and the PQ, he might have won my vote right here.
Coalition Avenir Québec André Besner
--> Very solid. He's live here for most of his life, decided once he retired he would go into public service. I disagree with most of his fundamental principles, but he struck me as professional, engaged, and was impressively able to take some hits from a crowd that did not like him.
Québec solidaire Chantale Michaud
--> I like a lot about her platform, but she doesn't know how to handle this kind of format. Constantly going over time because she was reading her answers, rather than speaking them, she then got so flustered by being called out on it that when the red sign for no more time went up, she'd just stop mid sentence instead of finishing her thought. This marred what was otherwise some good policy ideas and what appeared to be a very solid knowledge of the local situation.
Green Jeffrey Mackie
--> Only got to speak at the end. Made the effort to do it in French, although it was clearly difficult for him. Just a vague stump speech introduction with no real policy meat.
Option nationale Marc-Antoine Daneau
--> He probably wished he hadn't had a seat for the debate, and had given it to Green. He apparently started with fair support from the crowd, but pissed it away by basically saying independence was the answer to everything. No context, no nuance. Probably just a computer geek who agreed to run. He did get better as the debate went on, which I complimented him on afterwards. That was NOT easy (it got to the point people just started laughing when he started to answer a question) but he stuck with it and clearly learned some just watching the professionals. No way I'd ever vote for a group whose entire platform basically consists of "Why aren't we already splitting off from Canada? We can figure out details later."
Coalition pour la constituante Elisabeth Doyon
--> Did not see this human.
Quebec Citizens' Union Philippe Refghi
--> He gave another quickie 5 minutes speech at the end. OK, but a bit unfocused, with most of it dedicated to the idea of "the old parties are bad, and voting for someone new isn't wasting your vote".
In the end, I am really glad I went. QS seems to have massive support, which surprised me. There is certainly a "dear god, get the liberals out" mood, but vote splitting PQ/QS could be a big deal.
