Debates in Newmarket-Aurora
Local coverage here
We have now completed all five debates in the Newmarket-Aurora riding. Sacred Heart and Cardinal Carter hosted two high school debates on Friday and Tuesday morning. The Aurora Chamber of Commerce had a debate on Monday. Rogers taped and aired a debate moderated by John Taylor. Last night the Newmarket Chamber of Commerce had the final debate.
I think Lois Brown did an excellent job at the two Chamber debates in Aurora and Newmarket. Because she had to defend Harper's time in government, she came across as the incumbant. I did not see the high school debates because I have to work for a living. The Rogers debate was dominated by Dorian Baxter with Lois and Tim on the sidelines for the most part. Personally, I don't think the debates will have much impact on the outcome of this election. There were no major gaffes by Tim Jones or Lois Brown and I didn't see any real knock out blows. The two major candidates played it safe and stayed on party message. Mike Seaward, Glenn Hubbers, Ray Luff, and Dorian Baxter were wild cards in the debates. In Aurora there were no questions from the floor. In Newmarket there ended up being about half an hour of questions from the time. Issues discussed included: economy, manufacturing jobs, poverty, Afghanistan, Iraq, abortion, Carbon Tax, environmental plans, hand gun ban, Young offenders Act, municipalities and infrastructure, peaker power plant, taxes, spending, family court, child credit, democratic reform and leadership. In Newmarket, each candidate was allowed to ask another two questions. Lois asked Tim about the Liberal deal with the Green Party and also a question about his record as Mayor of Aurora. Tim asked Lois about Flaherty's "Ontario would be the last place to invest in" comment. Mike Seaward wasn't always on NDP message (why no mention of Dion abstaining or promoting Jack Layton's leadership) but ultimately represented himself well on the left. Glenn Hubbers has campaigned twice now for the Greens and represents his party in a strong way. Ray Luff did a good job of promoting the CHP and Dorian Baxter provided the comedy with an occasional good point here and there and an outrageous statement at other times. Tim said straight up that this is a two horse race in Newmarket-Aurora. Both candidates survived, and now the efforts will move to getting the vote out. I expect turnout to be lower than 2006 and 2004, but could be surprised.
Inside the debates, it is well known that the crowd is rarely undecided. Partisans from all sides fill the room, plant questions, distribute flyers and cheer wildly for their candidate. Signs flood the location. The candidates have spent hours preparing in advance trying to get their key points and media sound bytes into the debate at the right time. I got a good laugh when the Newmarket moderator opened up the floor to questions and the first two people lined up first at each of the two microphones were the Presidents of the Liberal and Conservative riding associations. Fighting four elections since 2004 and a municipal one in the same period; everyone gets to know the key people behind each of the campaigns. The real audience of course is the media covering the event. I did talk to one undecided voter and it was refreshing. Sometimes in campaign mode it is easy to get caught up in a partisan bubble and lose touch with the real swing voters. The crowd in Aurora (pictured above) was packed but the venue was small. Newmarket was about 75% full at Newmarket Theatre, but dropped signifcantly before the question portion after the class from St. Andrews left the building.
Because the debates fall very late in the campaign, media coverage will be brief. Rogers will air the previously taped debates periodically until E-day. The Auroran most likely will not have another issue until after the election or election day at the earliest. The Era Banner had an article on the Sacred Heart debate today and potentially will have another story about the Newmarket debates on the weekend or Tuesday. CBC Radio was also there last night as was SNAP!
Tomorrow Stephen Harper will be in the GTA for a major rally. According to the local debates, Tim Jones said Stephane Dion is coming into this riding before the election. After Saturday the campaigning is basically over, Thanksgiving dinners will take place and then it comes down to getting out the vote on election day. Shortly, this election will be in the hands of the people. For now this swing riding is in the hands of the national campaigns and the momentum going into election day just prior to the holiday weekend. Locally we have two more days of campaigning to go and one big day for translating all of that hard work into votes. We now have 5 days to go!
-Darryl
