Credit: CFJC Today

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Imagine that – a political debate that was worth watching

Oct 14, 2020 | 4:38 AM

KAMLOOPS — THERE WAS A CLEAR WINNER in Tuesday night’s B.C. leaders’ debate.

As usual, all three parties fired off media releases right after it was over claiming victory.

According to the BC Liberals, their leader Andrew Wilkinson “took down” the NDP’s John Horgan. Not so, said the NDP — Horgan bested Wilkinson, even blaming him for the plight of seniors during the pandemic.

And the BC Greens insisted their leader, Sonia Furstenau, made the case for more Green MLAs.

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But the real winner was none of the above. No, the title goes to moderator Shachi Kurl. of the Angus Reid Institute, who accomplished the seemingly impossible task of keeping the leaders mostly on-topic and respectful.

And the three leaders actually abided by her enforcement of the rules, ceasing and desisting from talking over each other as she imposed the strict time allotment for each question.

That didn’t prevent the leaders from going at each other frequently. Horgan, for example, couldn’t escape the issue of an unnecessary election call, and his insistence that it was needed to escape politics sounded as hollow as ever.

Wilkinson did as well as he could with the embarrassment of waiting too long to challenge sexist remarks made about a female NDP MLA by his fellow Liberal Jane Thornthwaite, but there’s no question the incident has hurt the party.

On the other hand, he scored points on his party’s record on healthcare, while Horgan successfully parried thrusts on Trans Mountain and Site C.

Furstenau, though, came across the least like a politician, which in these times is a good thing. She capably expounded environmental priorities while making the case that the Greens are more than tree-huggers.

Through it all, Kurl stage-managed perfectly. It was a political debate that was worth watching, and that’s saying something these days.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.