OSHAWA RIDING

Sound bites anyone?

It was great to show up at yesterday's  all candidates debate hosted by the Durham College/UOIT Student Association, and find upwards of 70 students settled in to watch the action. Some were first time voters and first time debate watchers, while others seemed to be seasoned political pros.

Case in point: I overheard students asking one another when the election is, which party Stephen Harper belongs to (really??) and whether the Greens are "the pot party," while others were reciting quotes from party leaders and debating the pros and cons of the various economic platforms.

Overall, it was fun to hear some new questions -- not that manufacturing and the economy aren't big time issues, but how many times can the candidates rattle off the exact same answers? This crowd asked about plastic water bottles, urban development, crime, and student housing.

The students seemed to really enjoy the event, but I have to say, I was less than impressed. The candidates offered up more platitudes and sound bites than actual answers -- "I'll fight for you" was the default answer to most questions. And, there was a little more aggression that we've seen to this point -- Liberal candidate Dr. Sean Godfrey especially, was in attack mode.

It rated well on the entertainment scale but lacked the substance I was hoping for -- especially considering Monday's debate was a no go.

I should have brought a flashlight...

I was really stoked for the all-candidates' debate last night at the CAW union hall, and by all appearances, so were the 200-ish people in the audience. So it was really disappointing when the lights suddenly went out barely 30 minutes in, and stayed out. Finally, after more than an hour of sitting expectantly in the dark, the organizers shut it down.

I'm told most of south Oshawa was without power for anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours. We still don't know what caused the blackout, but people were jokingly pinning it on Oshawa Green candidate Pat Gostlin last night, because the darkness descended just moments after she commented on the importance of turning off lights to conserve electricity.

At this point, it isn't likely the event will be rescheduled. But the candidates are debating Wednesday at 1 p.m. at UOIT. Go here for details.

Even though last night was a flop, there were a few entertaining points. . . .

- Christian Heritage Party candidate Peter Vogel wasn't invited to participate in the debate, but he didn't let that stop him from showing up, handing out literature -- and hopping up on stage when the lights went out. In all the confusion, he managed to yell out his party's website address, before being escorted away.

- In his opening statement, Oshawa NDP candidate Mike Shields started talking about his party's history of fiscal responsibility, a topic that prompted some confused grumbling from the crowd. Realizing his mistake, Mike was quick to say "with the exception of Bob Rae . . . but that's their problem now!" before nodding to the group of Liberal supporters in red T-shirts.

Stay tuned for details from tomorrow's debate at UOIT. . . .

 

CAW/NDP love in

So, I swung by the Ed Broadbent rally at Mike Shields' campaign office yesterday. It was pretty much what you'd expect -- lots of "I like Mike" buttons, lots of talk about the struggling manufacturing sector, lots of reminiscing about the NDP's glory days in Oshawa, lots of references to Shields and Broadbent as "working class heroes."

And, of course, a big CAW presence. No shock there -- ask most people in Oshawa and they'll tell you  CAW and NDP are a natural pairing, like peanut butter and jelly.

But, for years, there has been a small but vocal force that has fought against Local 222's efforts to endorse a particular party or candidate. Union member Alan Clarke founded Members Against Political Affiliation (MAPA) a group dedicated to ending the local's love in the with NDP,  and in a 1993 referendum, a majority of Local 222 members voted for a ban on political endorsements.

It's an issue that has come up in past campaigns, and was raised again recently, when Mr. Clarke took issue with a Sept. 24 rally that saw CAW National President Ken Lewenza and Chris Buckley, urge union members to send Shields to Ottawa. Union brass argue they're not financially backing Shields, and that it's OK for them to support one of their own members in a bid for a seat.

Check out my colleague's story here and Buckley's quote in my story on the Broadbent rally here and tell me what you think...

Early bird voting is on

If you can't vote on Oct. 14, or have already made up your mind and just want to get it out of the way, advance polls are open now.

They started yesterday and are also open today (Saturday) and Monday, from noon until 8 p.m. For more information, check out the Elections Canada website.

De-briefing from last night

Oshawa's candidates were all over the airwaves last night, first live on CTV's 6 pm news for the "town hall/coffee with the candidates" event at the Legends Centre, then live on the Rogers TV debate at 9 pm. Not sure what everyone else thought, but I was disappointed with both.

The Rogers one, because it was a little tedious and predictable.

As for CTV's, the set up was odd -- candidates were perched awkwardly on a row of  stools with their backs to the audience, under super bright lights that made them all look a little freaked out. Live TV being what it is, the whole thing seemed a little hurried and frantic -- questions were asked and the each candidate had a few seconds to spit out an answer, before host Tom Hayes was on to the next one. In some cases, they were cut off mid-thought.

And, it was frustrating to watch local waterfront advocate Larry Ladd ask an interesting question that didn't get answered. He noted that Jim Flaherty has said he supports FarmTech's proposal to build an ethanol plant at the Oshawa waterfront, and asked if Colin Carrie would stand up and oppose him in the House, if it came down to it.

Hayes let the other candidates answer first -- even though the question wasn't directed at them -- and they managed to wander off topic onto the Crombie Report. By the time the camera was on Carrie, he was talking about something else entirely, and the segment wrapped up without an answer -- even though Larry did a good job of shouting out that his question was left hanging....

In other news, looks like the City's legal department decided it was inappropriate to have a "Colin Carrie MP" sign up at the Legends Centre, and pulled it before last night's event -- Team Carrie was not impressed.

Don't forget...

...to watch the Oshawa candidates debate on Rogers TV tonight at 9 p.m. on channel 10. It's the first time the group has squared off, but definitely not the last. There are three more debates coming up over the next week, not to mention the televised leaders debate tomorrow night.

And today's special guest is...

Oshawa has had a non-stop flow of party leaders, ex-party leaders and other hot shots swing through town lately, as the candidates dig in for the last leg of the campaign.

The special guest is a vital tool in the campaign arsenal: they can swoop in and answer questions for the uninformed candidate, attract headlines for the unknown candidate, and inject a shot of charisma into the stale atmosphere around the boring candidate. Not to mention the street cred that comes with having a political rock star campaigning by your side...

Liberal candidate Dr. Sean Godfrey welcomed Ken Dryden to Oshawa's Simcoe Hall Settlement House on Saturday, hosted Bob Rae at a local retirement home on Monday, and has Canadian astronaut and Liberal candidate Marc Garneau coming to UOIT this afternoon.

On Friday, NDP candidate Mike Shields will be campaigning with Ed Broadbent, while incumbent Colin Carrie was among the crowd of Conservatives on hand to welcome Stephen Harper to Ajax on Saturday and also had Government House Leader Peter Van Loan in town last week.

Greens say no to strategic voting

The Oshawa Greens aren't impressed with Friday's Toronto Star story on Green Party leader Elizabeth May, which indicates she supports strategic voting,

Oshawa Green candidate Pat Gostlin and her team say the paper got the story wrong, and issued a media release attempting to set the record straight.

"We stand firm in the belief that strategic voting is not an option. Pat Gostlin intends to win in the Oshawa riding and will take a Green seat in the House of Commons!" it says.

May also issued a statement clarifying her stance:

  “I was talking in broad terms about the flaws in the current first-past-the-post electoral system, and some ways in which we might cope with them until the system is fixed through proportional representations. Under the present circumstances, we might need some creative thinking.

    It was a long discussion about issues and most definitely not a prescription for the current campaign.
    As I have said time and again, including all during this train tour, strategic voting does not make sense.
    Every Green Party candidate is working as hard as possible to earn the votes of everyone in their riding, and they are all campaigning to win.”

The comments in the Star story paint a pretty different picture than her follow up statements -- was she taken out of context, or do you think we're seeing two different faces of the Green leader?

The Toronto media cometh

This is warm and fuzzy -- CTV Toronto is hosting "coffee with the candidates" events in four GTA ridings. It kicked off last Wednesday, here's how their website describes the concept:

Beginning today at 6 p.m., and continuing every Wednesday leading up to Election Day on October 14, voters can head to their local coffee shop or pub to chat with candidates in key ridings across the GTA.

CTV Toronto's Tom Hayes will host the informal town-hall meetings and moderate audiences' questions to the candidates.

Portions of the town hall meetings will air live each Wednesday until the election on CTV Toronto's News at 6.

They've already done Trinity Spadina and Parkdale High Park. And ... hold onto your hats ... Oshawa is up next Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Legends Centre.

CTV actually wrote Whitby-Oshawa on its website, but we checked and it is the Oshawa riding candidates they've invited. Weird how national/Toronto media seem unable to grasp the fact that Oshawa and Whitby-Oshawa are two different ridings ... but that's another post for another time.

During the last few federal elections, it's become second nature for national/Toronto media to dub Oshawa a "key riding" or "riding to watch" -- obviously because of all that's gone on in the manufacturing sector, and the fact that there is often an actual race here.

On the one hand, it's nice for local voters to learn about their candidates and issues beyond what the local media offers. But, I'm often disappointed with the way "big" media treats this city -- so often Oshawa is stripped down to a hard luck, one-issue, blue collar stereotype.

Sure, manufacturing is a huge issue here. But so is funding for cities that could help fix our infrastructure and shrink property taxes, clean up of the harbour/waterfront, a federally funded ethanol proposal, a growing poverty/affordable housing crisis, and on and on and on.

I'm interested to see how CTV approaches it ...

 

Debate update

CAW Local 222 has confirmed Oshawa's candidates will be debating at the union hall (1425 Phillip Murray Avenue) on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. If you're looking to soak up some debate action, this is probably your best bet, as the only other two on the horizon are the televised Rogers debate and the forums hosted by the Oshawa Senior Citizens Centre...