John Robson: Parties Need to Debate Sensitive Issues Instead of Marching in Lockstep Toward Partisan Victory

Conservative delegate Patrick Wuori talks to the crowd prior to Pierre Poilievre's speech at the Conservative Party Convention in Quebec City on Sept. 8, 2023. The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot

Commentary

As a journalist covering the even shabbier profession of politics, I’ve often thought we should send theatre critics to political conventions. But not cynically. Rather, since they are stage-managed events of a rather peculiar sort, I favour taking a step back from the familiar theatrics, familiar at least to those inside the bubble, and asking what on earth the participants are trying to do as well as how well they seem to be managing it.