The Halifax Federal Candidates' Debate!

I just got home from watching the Halifax Federal Candidates' Debate tonight. There was a good turn-out of people, most of whom were NDP (surprise)! So yes, Meagan Leslie (NDP gal) got the majority of the clapping, and Catherine Meade (Liberal gal) got some of the rest. The Green Party dude got plenty of support from the audience, as well (I can't remember his name). Ted Larsen, the Conservative candidate didn't have much support, but his few supporters were plenty supportive. And then there was the Marxist-Leninist guy (YES! There was actually a Marxist-Leninist guy!). He made a cute little crack about how he won't get elected, which was basically a direct steal from Gilles Duceppe's remark about the same thing at the Federal Candidates' round table debate, but I don't think anyone really cared.

The debate was relatively entertaining. There was some obnoxious guy who kept shouting at Larsen when he was speaking. Some left-wing political activism in action! And clearly being conducive to getting the message out, as usual. (No, I couldn't hear a thing he shouted.) There was also some girl who did the same thing. I couldn't hear what she had to say (obnoxiously shout during Larsen's closing statements), either. Oh well. Good for them!

The Marxist-Leninist guy was a complete joke and kept having his mic shut off because he would blab on for so long about how we need to get back to communist Russia, yadda yadda yadda. Why he was even there to waste all of our time is beyond me. Okay; democracy, freedom of speech; I got it. But seriously. What a joke. I kind of felt bad for the guy until he made a crack about Israel and started going on about how immigrants are oppressed when they come to Canada--"especially the Islamic population"--and how it's bad that they are forced to submit to "Canadian values," at which he held up his little two-fingered bunny ears. Disgusting. That was the end of my pity!

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QUICK DEBATE QUIZ!

Question: Two candidates referred to their significant others as "partners." Can you guess who?
Answer: Green party guy and Liberal candidate Catherine Meade.

Question: Two candidates brought their own waterbottles from home and refused the bottled water they were given. Can you guess who?
Answer: Green party guy and NDP candidate Meagan Leslie.

Question: The people standing in line to ask questions kvetched about one main issue in order to have the debate time extended so they could ask their questions. Can you guess what that issue was?
Answer: "No women have asked questions yet!" which was later changed to: "Only one woman has asked a question so far!!!!"
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MY humble answer to the woman thing is "shut up." Honestly, maybe you should have ran up to the microphone faster, or gotten a seat closer to the microphone so you could just stand up and ask your question. The fact that no woman was at the mic fast enough is totally irrelevant and was no good reason to extend the debate time. Perhaps the fact that people had more questions was a good reason to extend the time--candidates willing--but not because only one woman had asked a question. That's just ridiculous.

The debate basically consisted of a bunch of people making blind, unkeepable promises about "climate change," and then the Marxist-Leninist guy saying that the science behind the matter was still widely in question (I'll give him that), and Ted Larsen, Conservative, explaining to people in terms that he hoped they could understand, that fairytale promises aren't achievable and that a realistic plan for dealing with the environment was a better idea. Unfortunately, this was language that people couldn't understand, and so they shouted at him, as children would.

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Okay, I'm going to give my position on cutting funds for the arts.
Here it is.
I am pro-arts. I think that art is an essential aspect of our society and that it betters our minds and bodies and souls. It helps us question things and serves as an excellent outlet for our thoughts. It is also a great way to exercise our freedom of expression.
But here's the thing. Just because the government wants to take funding away from the arts--they have to take it from somewhere!--it doesn't mean that the government is taking away your freedom of expression. They're not. I'm sorry, but all these candidates and people who are arguing that the government is putting a cap on arts funding because they want to oppress you is wrong. Saying that the government is taking away funding for the arts because they don't want you to be able to criticize the government is also wrong. And even if it's right, you can't prove it, so stop saying it like it's a fact. It's not. The fact is that the arts are not one of--or even close to being one of--the most pressing issues that are facing our society today. And the arts is also widely known for having a breadth of wealthy people behind it who are willing to donate. Let's be serious here, people. The arts are fantastic. But just because the government is taking some money away from it, doesn't mean you can't still paint that portrait and put it on display. It doesn't mean you can't act in that community theatre play. It just means that the funds are being taken from that area of society and directed at another area. One that is undoubtedly more pressing to your safety and well-being. And quite frankly, I like lower taxes. Crazy, I know.
So like I said, I love the arts, and I will continue to support the arts for the entirety of my life. And you can too. That just doesn't mean the government has to, when there are more important issues facing our country.
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On another note, the Green Party dude was undoubtedly the best speaker of the bunch. Meagan Leslie was also good. Ted Larsen improved as the debate progressed, and the Marxist-Leninist guy was just terrible. He whistled when he said the letter "S." And who doesn't hate that? But Catherine Meade was BY FAR my favourite to listen to. Oh boy, did she have ATTITUDE! She would make these hilarious faces when people would question her or the Liberal party, like she was thinking "MHM, WHAT'D YOU SAY TO ME?!" And she kept saying "Aight." It was classic! She talked to everyone as if they're stupid, repeating things again and again, and yes, saying "aight." I was just waiting for her to throw in a "Foo!" Plus she was super, super rude to the mediator. Very unprofessional. And no, this is not me being racist. This is actually how she talked and acted.

The bottom line was that everyone wants you to pay more taxes except the Conservatives, but no one in Halifax cares because it's Halifax and Halifax is generally pretty lazy. The NDP is targetted towards "Ordinary Canadians." As in, the extraordinary Canadian is not taken into account whatsoever. If you want to succeed, we want to take your success and put it into our pockets. But we want to stay lazy. Cool? "Cool," Haligonians replied. Every candidate except the Conservatives is proposing an impossible plan for the environment, and Haligonians are eating it up. You know, I'm not even very partisan. I think that I'll criticize a candidate or a government when they're being dumb, which candidates and governments are a lot of the time. But seriously, Conservatives are the only logical choice here, and it's kind of a piss-off that everyone is to go-with-the-rest-of-the-sheep and lazy to see it. Oh well. It will probably be an NDP candidate for Halifax, but it will also probably be a Conservative candidate for Canada. And that's definitely the best choice we have at the moment. So I guess it could be worse.