About 400 Liberals and their supporters paid $20 each Saturday afternoon to watch a Liberal leadership event in which a failed Liberal candidate (Harvey Locke, last seen coming in a respectable second to Joan Crockatt in a Calgary Centre byelection) read largely the same questions to the nine leadership contestants in separate 11-minute long “interviews.” The biggest revelation after two hours of this was that Marc Garneau enjoys cooking — and frittatas specifically — and he also enjoys vacuuming. Martha Hall Findlay, on the other hand, hates cooking and cleaning. In fact, she ‘fessed up to creating dinners for her children over the years which consisted of nothing but Kraft Dinner and hot dogs. My wife remembers these kinds of meals from her childhood growing up in a small town in Northwestern Ontario where this particular menu was a local favourite known as “A Nipigon Supper.” And, in a pinch, they continue to be a perfectly suitable quick meal for our children. (Not, though, for me. I’ve had a lifelong aversion to Kraft Dinner and to lasagna. I have no idea why.)
From the game story by colleague Mark Dunn:
… the infomercial format did provide for some lighter insights into the wannabes, including Marc Garneau – Canada’s first astronaut in space – who shared his love of cooking frittatas and household chores, especially vacuuming.
“There is nothing more satisfying than sucking out a dust buffalo with a vacuum cleaner,” he said. “I’ve had many hours of enjoyment from doing it.
“I have to admit I’m not very big on dusting, although with the new Swiffer glove that you can put on you can do some pretty neat stuff.”
I watched the debate event on television from my office at my home in Ottawa. Notably, for the second leadership gathering in a row (the last one, in Vancouver, was an actual debate), the event was not carried live on any French-language television network. And remember, this is the not the Greens we’re talking about it; this is the race to lead the party that has governed the country for most of its history.
@gmbutts @justintrudeau Was there a debate today ? Not a word in Qc media . something is wrong here.
— John Parisella (@JohnParisella) February 2, 2013
Among the English-language networks, only Sun News Network, CPAC and CTV carried the entire two hours live. Sun News Network (like CPAC, I assume) went wire-to-wire without commercials or commentary, presenting the event as it happened. I do not know if CTV did the same on its News Channel (my TV was kept tuned to Sun News Network) but, according to Twitter, CBC News Network did not carry the entire event live.
Strange new world. The public broadcaster isn’t televising the Liberal forum, Privates are. Shameful interpretation of CBC mandate.
— Elly Alboim (@ealboim) February 2, 2013
And, let me remind readers who Elly is: He spent 23 years working at CBC where, as he would say on Twitter, he “used to call the shots on political coverage.”
@tjhislaw Maybe. Or maybe it’s lost its way. What is the public policy rationale for a public broadcaster if they do this?
— Elly Alboim (@ealboim) February 2, 2013
@davidakin @ealboim CBCNN used the time between 2-3:30pm to jest amongst themselves about groundhogs.
— IanJ (@evilotto2) February 2, 2013
So it looks like CBC NN was in and out of the event — and was out for large chunks apparently. Now, as Elly goes on to say in more detail in his twitter feed, of all the networks — French or English — CBC actually has a mandate to present these sorts of events in their entirety, particularly when there literally is nothing else going on. That said, I can understand a program director deciding some banter between on-air personalities about Wiarton Willie was likely to attract more viewers than nine 11-minute-long sessions of lob-ball questions on subjects of varying important answered by very nice individuals, a majority of which you will likely never hear of again after Easter.
Still, some liked it:
#lpcldr I really like the diff format than Vancouver debate … More personalized for each candidate!
— Mike McDowall (@mikemcd79) February 2, 2013
I was not one of them.
I miss Iggy vs Rae vs Dion. #goodtimes #lpcldr
— David Akin (@davidakin) February 2, 2013