OTTAWA—Besides the occasional zinger that kept journalists chuckling in the media room at the Government Convention Centre, there were few surprises during the leader’s debate in the room next door Tuesday evening.
The first one-liner came within minutes when Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe chided Conservative leader Stephen Harper after the incumbent PM responded to the first of six pre-recorded questions from Canadians.
“I would first like to congratulate Mr. Harper for answering a question from a citizen for the first time in this campaign,” began Duceppe, hitting the Conservative leader over allegations he is running a bubble campaign that keeps him overly insulated from the public.
Harper, for his part, fell short in the witty-one-liners department, but did as he was expected: stayed calm and in control as a prime minister should while the leaders of the other three parties focused most of their attacks on his record in office.
Coalition Premonition
Harper used those attacks as evidence of what would happen if he didn’t get returned to Parliament with a majority mandate.
“Look at the debate we’re having today—we’re going to be back into a fifth election in no time at all,” he said.
Harper has made the prospect of an unstable Parliament or a Conservative minority Parliament being overturned by a Liberal-led coalition a central campaign message. Minutes after Harper finished the debate, his party sent out a press release titled “Conservative Party of Canada Coalition Watch.”
It even had a “Breaking News” tagline and detailed what it described as proof from the debate that Ignatieff was ready to overturn a minority Conservative government.
“In response to a question about coalitions, Michael Ignatieff said the party that wins the most seats doesn’t necessarily get to form the government,” read the release.
