English Debates

[Shawnski]

OK, they just started.

Five or six words in, Martin, whom got the first statement, had "Harper" as his sixth or seventh word. Hmmm.

Ongoing thoughts?

[transplant99]

Just tuned in via the net...im quite curious what's going to develop here.

[Jayems]

funny. Martin talking about ethics and honesty... pfft.

[Shawnski]

Silly start.... after the first question (proof of evidence into RCMP inventigations into the Income Trust allegations) Layton took a tangent, Harper spoke to the spikes in the market, Martin was defensive, and Dusceppe did jack. Then for a rebuttal as called for by the mod, Layton was asked a question, but everyone essentially moved on? WTF?

Second question going, but no one seems to be following the moderator. Doesn't look like a good debate developing....

[browna]

The biggest regret I have about recording on tape the 2003/04 playoffs are the NDP commercials slid in there with that snake oil seller Layton grinning like he just sold a broken down 1978 Cutlass off his lot to a naive old couple.

[pope04]

To me, Harper is coming off a lot less "woodenly" than he did in his godawful ads. Martin looks uncomfortable.

[FireFly]

Martin should look uncomfortable, he's getting hammered. Nice to see the polls for the day have the Conservatives in the lead with 41% of the vote right now... he only has room to lose right now, I doubt he'll gain much more.

[pope04]

...of course Martin wants more women in politics...........LIKE BELINDA STRONACH!

[CaptainCrunch]

Martin loses his temper and complains about the smear campaign against his party, but dosen't answer any questions, then tries to steer the debate away from his government record.

So far I think I have Layton ahead on actually landing punches.

[KevanGuy]

It would be nice if they actually let them debate amongst themselves instead of all this canned response BS. Blah, blah, blah. YAWN!

[FurnaceFace]

It's a political debate. You rarely, rarely, get anything meaningful out of them. You'll get the odd fun exchange when the gloves start coming off when they can "scrum" assuming they have an open section. Most interesting thing is the undecided voters CBC has on after the debate to hear their take on it. Everyone else will have a biased view.

As an "undecided voter" or perhaps a "I don't care, they are all the same" voter, having divisions of a company in another country is nothing new. Everyone does it so that's pretty insignificant.

Don't you want more Belinda's in government? Beats looking at any of the shmoos on TV right now. I wish Joe Clark's daughter ran.

[duncan]

Originally Posted by fotze

What about moving his shipping companies to tax havens like the bahama to avoid Canada's oppresive business taxes.

if you want to question his knowledge/participation in the scandal great, I too find it hard to believe he knew nothing, but questioning his character because he flew a Bahamian flag on his ships to avoid taxes........ If you had a multi-million dollar company, and by changing the flag, you could save millions of dollars, you would do it too. Any sane businessman would.

[Shawnski]

Oh man, is Martin drowning.... doesn't answer questions, just get out on other tangents... Not a good sign for Liberals.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by duncan

if you want to question his knowledge/participation in the scandal great, I too find it hard to believe he knew nothing, but questioning his character because he flew a Bahamian flag on his ships to avoid taxes........ If you had a multi-million dollar company, and by changing the flag, you could save millions of dollars, you would do it too. Any sane businessman would.

Not if you aspire to higher office, and certainly not if your raising taxes to the average Canadian, while seeking to reduce your share elsewhere.

It comes across as hypocritical and slimy, if you want to lead your country.

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by Shawnski

Oh man, is Martin drowning.... doesn't answer questions, just get out on other tangents... Not a good sign for Liberals.

Yeah, it's nice to see them all kinda ganging up on him. I'm glad they include Duceppe in this things. He at least tends to use some common sense in his arguements. Adding the Green Party would have been interesting too.

[duncan]

and what does corporate taxes have to do with personal taxes? I guarantee that all 4 major leaders pay accountants big money to find loopholes to lower their personal tax.

[Kaon]

Does Martin ever answer the question posed? He's scambling, and I love it.

[Dogbert]

Gentlemen, I believe we are witnessing the implosion of Prime Minister Paul Martin.

[FurnaceFace]

Good call kev, I wanna heard the Green dude talk. If Duceppe gets a soapbox, so should Harris.

[Shawnski]

Mmmmm, Nick's Pizza... good stuff.... takes the edge off this crap.