NDP Leadership Debate, Round 1: The Aftermath

Reviewing the reviews of the first NDP Leadership debate. (Spoiler Alert: No one wins, but Robert Chisholm loses.)

Literally dozens of Canadians watched the NDP leadership debate (ourselves included), and the immediate reaction from Sunday afternoon is clear: Aaron Rodgers is a helluva quarterback. Beyond that, though, there's been little consensus. So let's take a gander at what the pundits are saying about each of the candidates (in alphabetical order, lest we appear to be giving any of the candidates an unfair advantage). Whoever ends up making the inevitable Tory attack ads based on these excerpts can thank us later:

Nicki Ashton:

"...performed well, in both English and French, but one suspects she lacks the support and experience to triumph." – John Ivison, National Post.

"...comes ready to rumble, as poised and articulate in French as in English." – Paul Wells, Maclean's.

"... is blessed of the fierce urgency of now. And when each of the nine candidates was asked to name their second choice, after themselves, for leader, two—Peggy Nash and Brian Topp—identified the 29-year-old Manitoban. So either Ms. Ashton is legitimately impressing her fellow candidates or she’s perceived as among the least threatening." – Aaron Wherry, Maclean's.

"... the kid candidate, also stood out. Ottawa politics is so youth-deficient that it was a treat to see the zest and command of this 29 year-old multilingual Manitoban. She’s calling for a new politics. If her age and spontaneity helps get her generation involved in the process, she will have made progress toward her goal, striking a blow against the stale thinking of aging baby boomers." – Lawrence Martin, iPolitics.ca.

"...appeared to defy expectations and come out with a strong debate performance. Touting her 'New Politics,' which had a few people scratching their heads, her performance was rhetoric heavy, emphasizing the need for diversity and equality." – Justin Ling, Rabble.ca.

"... looked too pixie to be going for a top political job." - Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun.

Consensus: She might not be leader this time around, but expect to hear her name for a long, long time.

Robert Chisholm:

"... should drop out of the race. An ability to read a pre-written text in French is a pretty low bar but the former Nova Scotia provincial party leader balked at it." – Ivison.

"... During the French portion, an earpiece relayed him real-time translations, and he responded to the questions in English. Some members of the audience audibly clicked their tongues." - Ling.

"... better spend Christmas immersed in French-language training 24/7 or drop out now." - Tim Harper, Toronto Star.

Consensus: A fine MP, but as far as leadership goes, il est arrivé décédé.

Nathan Cullen:

"... is a wild-card in this contest. He realizes he needs to stand out from the pack and used humour – 'I am in violent agreement with my colleagues' – to emerge as a more three-dimensional character than most of his fellow contenders." - Ivison.

"... funny, relaxed and pertinent." - Wells.

"... is enjoying himself. He cracked jokes, he laughed, he poked fun and he generally carried himself like he had nothing to lose, which is a lovely way to carry oneself so long as it doesn’t become a self-fulfilling prophecy." - Wherry.

"... made his presence felt, mocking the Tories’ national housing strategy as being to build more prisons." - Martin.

"... not only showed a good grasp of issues, but also injected a desperately needed shot of levity to break up what could have been a long afternoon." - Harper.

"... appeared the most polished and relaxed." - Yaffe.

Consensus: Easily the most affable of the group, but has a ways to go to win over party faithful to support his plan to hold joint-nomination meetings with Liberals, Greens.

Paul Dewar:

"... [his] French may not be good enough to lead a party in which one-third of the caucus doesn’t speak English. The Ottawa MP was competent — one francophone colleague said she was surprised by how good he was — but never comfortable." - Ivison.

"... the candidate with the least compelling claim to front-runnerdom." - Wells.

"... [his] French is below par, started slowly. He looked as stiff as a totem pole. But in one of the debate’s few clashes, he took down Topp, the party’s establishment candidate, for going off topic." - Martin.

Consensus: Wasn't helped by being grouped with Mulcair and Topp. Didn't exactly break expectations.

Thomas Mulcair:

"... was the epitome of collegiality and good humour. He makes a reasonable case that he is the candidate most able to take the party to the next level by reaching out beyond its traditional base." - Ivison.

"... was the winner on my ballot sheet. He came across as seasoned, articulate, very much at ease. There were no flashes of his reputed blowtorch temper. Moreso than the others, he had the presence of a leader." - Martin.

"... made his bilingualism quite evident, choosing to do his opening statement in both languages. In what may have been a calculated 'slip,' he later reverted to English during the second half of the debate before catching himself and returning to French." - Ling.

"... cool and confident, even if he still has to fight the urge to show everyone that he is the smartest person in the room." - Harper.

"... appeared most polished and relaxed [with Cullen]." -Yaffe.

Consensus: Seemed an awful lot like a late '90s Liberal in NDP clothing. Articulate, thoughtful, but smug. Beard has remarkable calming powers.

Peggy Nash:

"... put in a solid performance and nobody should be at all surprised if she ends up winning next March." - Ivison.

"... spoke with confidence." - Martin.

"... [her] French may have been correct, but her very slow, deliberate, dialectless delivery, which she picked up at university ... garnered a few raised-eyebrows from some of the Quebecois in the audience and online." - Ling.

Consensus: Jockeying to be the lead economic voice of the candidates, but remained understated on Sunday.

Romeo Saganash:

"... is the first native leader to run for top job of a federal party. He did not look out of place and, however the contest ends, will emerge with his reputation enhanced." - Ivison.

"... suffering from bronchitis, spent the afternoon struggling to catch his breath." - Wherry. (But his hair remained awesome. - ed.)

"... talked about his experience as a small-business owner and as a representative in the Grand Council of Crees. Saganash fell back on his experience actually signing trade agreements and dealing with various resource-development companies operating in northern Quebec." - Ling.

Consensus: Less-than perfect English hinders his leadership ambitions, but he bolsters the gravity of the NDP front bench. A solid No. 2 in Quebec.

Martin Singh:

"... surprisingly strong but sounded like a local, small-businessman interested in local small business, most specifically the small business local to him." - Ivison.

"... a turban-wearing pharmacist from Nova Scotia, had lots to say as a strong advocate for a national Pharmacare plan, but clearly is a long shot." - Yaffe.

Consensus: Pro-business approach refreshing among NDP crowd. Little else to say.

Brian Topp:

"... was strongest of the bunch on policy – unsurprising since he co-wrote the party platform – and he has taken a bold position in advocating tax increases for top earners. He was the only candidate who addressed the rather crucial question of how to raise the billions he plans to spend." - Ivison.

"... performed very well, strong on details but also succeeding, during the tiny amounts of time available to him, at linking each discussion back to some broader theme." - Wells.

"... is eager for a fight. While several of the other perceived frontrunners – Ms. Nash, Paul Dewar and Thomas Mulcair were content to state their own cases and leave it at that – Mr. Topp went out of his way to challenge his rivals." - Wherry.

"... his goal appeared to be to set himself up as the man with a dream, and the plan to get there. He also iterated his wish to win on New Democratic values and repeated what has become his mantra: 'We are not Liberals.'" - Ling.

"... delivered perhaps the most succinct, substantive and thought-provoking answers of the afternoon and showed an aggressive streak." - Harper.

"... stood out as a pragmatist, always raising the issue of finding the funds to pay for various proposals." - Yaffe.

"... His performance was uneven, but he’s a quick thinker who is likely to be more effective after he gets a couple of these sessions under his belt." - Martin.

Consensus: Guarantees the rest of the debates will be (at least mildly) interesting. Smug level approaching Mulcair's.

The only things we can add that hasn't been uttered by the minds above are that:

a) The debate format needs to be fixed for the next meet-up so that candidates can have more than 15 seconds to answer how they'd fix the Canadian economy;

b) The lighting and set looked like something out of public access television from the late 1980s.

c) Sunday afternoon? During the final four weeks of the NFL season? The things we put up with for democracy...

d) Stephen Maher was a fine moderator, but he's no Steve Paikin. Yet.