Seven hopefuls to replace late NDP leader Jack Layton square off in Vancouver today. The Vancouver Observer reports live from the final debate before the March 24 party vote.
Follow our live blog as we update as the debate unfolds today.
2:45 p.m. - I've been scouting out the Robo-calls rally across the street. Interestingly, among the several dozen I asked, there were few New Democrat members to be found in my quest for comment on the debate. Considering the NDP has led the charge against electoral suppression, it was interesting that there were not more members at the rally. One possibility is they've gone for beers with the various candidates, who are holding pub meet-and-greets post-debate.
One prominent Peggy Nash supporter, Duncan Cameron (president of Rabble.ca) was at the Robo-calls rally. Former Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) city councillor Ellen Woodsworth was around as the audience filtered out of the CBC building.
I just ran into candidate Brian Topp on his way to his own pub event - in his entourage was Alvin Singh, executive director of COPE.
Following the previous NDP leaders' town hall during the BC NDP convention, the Vancouver Observer was the only media to report that Topp was booed off the stage after he thrice ignored the moderator's request he respect his time limit. I mentioned that he seemed to have improved since his last performance here.
"I've learned a lot," he admitted to me.
One person attending the robocall rally told me he watched the debate as a "neutral person," and had not made his mind up in the leadership race.
"I think it was a very good debate," Jurgen Claud-Pierre said. "They are all bright people, with lots of good ideas.
"By the end, it was clear they all want to work together. But I always liked Mulcair - his personality, and he's completely bilingual. Also, Cullen impressed me."
Ballots have been mailed to NDP members last week, who will vote either in advance or during the party's March 24 convention.
2 p.m. - The audience has filed out now, I've been milling about outside asking their views on the debate. With a preferential ballot having party members choosing first choice candidates, then others by order of preference, in the end it may be the second choicers who most influence the vote.
Here's from one audience member (who disclosed that he was already a Niki Ashton supporter):
"I'm still processing, trying to take it all in," said Jordan Dysart. "Normally, I'm scared of Nathan Cullen calling people out - he normally does.
"But him calling out Singh (for calling Brian Topp a liar), I thought a lot more of him. I already made my choice for Niki (Ashton), but for second-choice I'm now torn between Cullen or Topp. I'd have to go with Cullen."
We just had all the candidates in the media room for scrums. Nash predicted she would be on the final, deciding ballot with Thomas Mulcair, implying that she has knocked Topp and Dewar off the list of presumed front-runners.
Mulcair defended his desire to adapt the party's message, denying that he is moving the party away from its roots. When the Vancouver Observer asked why he thought he had recieved the most donations from Bay Street and corporate interests, he evaded somewhat and said he has the most donations from the broadest group of Canadians.
Topp clenched his fist nervously, it seemed, on the podium, but joked comfortably that he wished the debate were longer: "I was just warming up," he chuckled before stepping off the stage and chatting with a journalist one-on-one.
Cullen told media he was surprised Martin Singh didn't apologize when he confronted Singh on calling Topp a liar. In fact, he told media, he even had a rebuttal ready for Singh's apology.
It was entertaining viewing (something the CBC has really been pushing this debate) - with some commentators noting that the coverage has often been more about style than substance, viewership than views.
But today's moderator really pushed - to the point of repeatedly interrupting candidates - for the hopefuls to differentiate themselves. Did they? Add your comments below.
1:30 p.m. - 1,000 people packed into the CBC theatre today, the NDP's media spokesperson just told me.
Final remarks just wrapped up. Mulcair spoke strongly of his vision to "adapt" the New Democrats' message, something for which he has come under fire from his rivals as moving the party too far from its social democratic roots.
"In Quebec we adapted our party's message to reach beyond our traditional based. "Now we can do the same across Canada.
"In Northern Ontario, Liberals spent years taking their voters for granted. In 2008, we swept them out of office."
Ashton ended the debate with some of the strongest words against Stephen Harper, offering a hopeful rallying cry for Canadians - and a warning for the Prime Minister.
"Stephen Harper, if you're watching today, I have a message for you," said Ashton. "Now, I have a message that is clear - enjoy your time as Prime Minister while it lasts.
"In 2011, if you think you saw an 'Orange Wave,' wait until 2015 - you'll see an orange wave from coast to coast" - sweeping the Conservatives' "corrupt politics" from office.
Next up are press scrums with the candidates.
1:20 p.m. - Cullen just played the "Western Alienation" card, one which seems more like the Conservatives than NDP - when I asked him about it in person after, he didn't deny he was playing the regionalism card, at all. But he pointed out that the Conservatives made gains in the West by successfully appealing to voters who felt ignored by Ottawa.
"We often feel ignored when we're shouting across the Rockies," said Cullen. "We need to speak to issues important to Western Canadians...
"As a kid who grew up in Toronto ... I see how we can bridge that gap, from urban to rural."
Topp addressed the question of regionalism by warning against fracturing the NDP's message along geographic lines. "One message" is the message, it seems.
"Sometime my French is not perfect - I know," Cullen said, in French. "When my land and my people are threatened, I will stand up for the land and the people."
Topp used his closing remarks to say he'll return as leader to demand hard work from NDP volunteers across the country.
"Let me add this cheery thought," Topp said. "All political careers end in tears."
1:15 p.m. - The debate has turned to strategies for defeating the Conservatives. Some of the humour has returned to the room after some fairly bitter questioning only half-an-hour ago.
"I guess I'm not getting any Christmas cards this year," joked Nathan Cullen, after Niki Ashton criticized his electoral cooperation plan. He then said it's telling that there are more members of the Mountain Equipment Co-op than the NDP. Cullen is definitely the (most successful) comedian in the room - is he someone you'd go for a beer with?
12:55 p.m. - The leadership wannabes are now answering their sole question in French. Paul Dewar's French has not been improving at the rate he insists it has - despite reported daily lessons, he threw in some fascinating Franglish by merely pronouncing "British Columbia" with a French-esque accent (the actual translation is Colombie-Britannique. Most analysts argue that, without comfort and fluency in French, no candidate could hold onto the party's gains in Quebec.
After Niki Ashton spoke about increasing respect for immigrants, Topp congratulated her on her French skills - it's unclear if it the compliment was sarcastic (Ashton's French seems good), but it certainly seemed somewhat condescending and elicted a few groans in the audience. (Reporters, too, were confused, and wondered if Topp had intended his comment for the clearly Anglophone moderator. "If it was for Ashton," a well-respected columnist told me, "it would have been incredibly condescending").
Peggy Nash maintains that Cullen's electoral cooperation plan (which proposed pre-election shared nomination meetings with other parties) will not work - but said that some pooling of party resources would be an alternative (for instance, joint advertisements to take on the Conservatives).
Both Nash and Cullen came under fire for suggesting cooperation in some degree. Then came Nash's question - and she again turned the fire onto Mulcair.
"Unlike the rest of us, you have not put forward a specific organization plan to make that happen," Nash asked Mulcair. "Where's your plan?"
"It's to go after the 338 ridings, which is the difference between me and the other candidates out there," Mulcair replied, adding that he "will put aside $3.38 million aside to gain those ridings."
"Clearly language doesn't build movements," Nash retorted, pointing to her support for strengthening riding associations. "People do."
"This is exactly our plan," Mulcair, saying he has heard riding associations across the country say, "We can't have everything imposed on us from Laurier Street in Ottawa."
Interesting tactic - rhetoric which seems to isolate the national headquarters of the NDP from its riding associations.
12:45 p.m. - Although the heat is definitely turned up in this final debate - following a turn towards the nasty in the last few weeks - the crowd here in Vancouver is quick to laugh, and the candidates have shown humour so far in the debate.
When Nathan Cullen's turn came to ask his question of any other candidate, he joked that he would give Mulcair a break after a barrage of questions towards the Quebec politician. He turned his question instead to Singh (who some speculate may drop from the race and endorse Mulcair). The famously tempestuous Mulcair smiled broadly as the crowd laughed.
People keep referring to "elephants in the room" (Cullen said it several times, others have referenced it). Cullen then mingled his metaphor with a "threading the needle" image.
What is the proverbial elephant, though? Is it the failure to properly recognize immigrant's qualifications (repeatedly using Saskatchewan cab drivers as a rather, obscure example)? Is the elephant the latest turn towards the negative in the campaign, with accusations flying of dishonesty, corporate funding, and backroom deals?
The media will no doubt jump on the tension evident in the room today, and exploit the candidates' differences. But after past debates, the media yawned and said it was a boring, uninspired conversation. It seems the New Democrats don't gain whether they play nice or rough, at least in the media.
12:30 p.m. - This round of the debate has the candidates asking each other questions, as introduced by the moderator as a test of their abilities in Question Period in Parliament.
So far, all but one of the questions (Nathan Cullen's) have hit Thomas Mulcair with a string of stinging questions - a sign that he continues to be perceived as a frontrunner in the race. Candidates like Niki Ashton, Paul Dewar and Peggy Nash have accused him of taking the NDP away from its roots.
"Folly is believing that repeating the exact same gesture we'll get the exact same results," Mulcair responded to one question. "We have to follow in the track left by Jack" - but to go further to gain elusive seats in the West. He talked about Jack as the "happy warrior."
"I think you've got the warrior part down, Tom," joked Paul Dewar.
Rumours that Mulcair is using presumed last-place candidate Martin Singh as his "attack dog" were evoked during Nathan Cullen's attack on Singh, in which he asked the candidate to apologize for accusing Topp of lying. Singh vigorously denounced the allegations of cooperation, saying his debate style is his own.
12 p.m. - The debate has totally filled the CBC theatre downtown. Organizers had to close the doors with a long line remaining when the venue packed to the brim. Opening salvos have begun. Here's a summary of what the seven remaining candidates said in their opening statements:
Niki Ashton: "Liberal Tory, same old story... We must not and cannot sacrifice our principles."
Martin Singh: "I'm running for Prime Minister of Canada..." He may be jumping the gun somewhat, but Singh focused his campaign around a national public Pharmacare plan.
Thomas Mulcair welcomed people with warmth people have come to expect of the seasoned former Liberal politician. He warned of the need for a strong leader, knowing “what stands to be lost if we continue with the Harper Conservative government." With cuts to medicare and the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, Harper is "leaving the greatest ecological and social debt in Canada's history in the backpacks of future generations."
Nathan Cullen: "We've been bullied and called names for standing up and standing together against the Enbridge pipeline. This doesn't make us radicals or enemies of the state – it makes us Canadians. We have a better vision for this country – that we have an audacious belief that we can unite progressives from coast to coast to coast."
Paul Dewar: "This debate should be about who has energy, passion, experience and plan ... I want to make sure we win back our country."
Peggy Nash: "Youth: your energy and creativity are so inspiring... (NDP will) become the government a majority of Canadians want, based on values of social justice, environmental sustainability, and jobs – inspire 40 per cent who don't vote. As leader, I will put proportional representation front-and-centre so every voice and every vote counts."
Brian Topp: "Friends, Jack Layton told us to be loving, hopeful and optimistic. I'm very optimistic about what comes next: we will unite, we'll defeat Stephen Harper."