Two debates, two languages, no winners?

Now that the French and English language leaders debates have concluded there seems to be no winners. Most pundits will only grudgingly pick a winner for either debate, and there is a wide variety of opinion as to who won each of the debates. I am biased, I do not like Harper, I would be hard pressed to find him the winner of anything. That being said I have some observations about who did well in the debates and who did poorly.

Firstly, despite what was only an average performance in English, I think that Stephane Dion actually came out ahead after the debates. In French Dion naturally did well. With Duceppe the only other francophone, Dion had little competition. While Harper and Layton are definitely competent in French I do not think that they have the language necessary to give detailed and nuanced answers. I should also admit that I myself do not understand much French. I base my opinion on the English translations and to a degree on how the leaders sound when they are speaking French. Layton, Harper, and especially May, all have a lot of hesitation and pauses while they search for the right words, while Dion and Duceppe give quick and sharp answers.

In English Dion managed to hold his own. He came across as very earnest, and more honest than Harper. Dion did not win the English debate, but the fact that he held his own is a small victory in my view. Many more Canadians have now seen Dion in action. They have seen that he is not as weak a leader as he has been portrayed to be by the Conservative machine. I think you can call Dion an overall winner from the debates. He did well in French, and was not outclassed in English. I think the argument that Dion is an unknown quantity has less weight now than it did two days ago.

I, unlike many professional pundits, can easily pick a winner from the English debate, and the winner is Elizabeth May. Before tonight Elizabeth May was unknown to most Canadians. She had gotten some media coverage, but not a great deal. After tonight Canadians know that she is extremely intelligent, and very sharp in her criticisms. More than any other leader she had statistics at her finger tips. She pointed out when Harper was being particularly dishonest with his statements. May was able to portray a strong grasp of economics and the environment. For me, and most importantly, May emphasized the importance of electoral reform. May is right when she says we need an electoral system where people can vote for who they believe in, where they can vote for the party or the candidate that they really want the most, and not base their votes on avoiding the worst of parties or candidates. I want to be able to go into a voting booth and vote for both a candidate and a party. Most votes end up meaning nothing as most ridings elect members with less than 50% of the vote. Large numbers of voters who pick a winning candidate are not voting for the person or the party that they truly want to vote for.

Overall winner, largely because he was expected to do poorly, is Dion. Winner in the English debate largely because she was relatively unknown before, is May. Though I have picked two winners I also think that there were no real losers. Harper was constantly attacked on both nights yet he never had any really bad moments. Harper avoided making any new, ill planned platform policies. Now that he has faced the combined attacks of all four opposition leaders and gotten through relatively unscathed, Harper looks very secure as a leader.