Some Candidates Meeting at the Legion

Any one else notice that all the Green Party/NDP/Marxist-Leninist supporters spontaneously seated themselves on the left side of the hall and all the CPC supporters spontaneously seated themselves on the right?
For those of you who couldn't untangle yourselves sufficiently from your counterpanes in time to attend (and I'm looking at you here, b-boy and ricky larch), the format consisted of intros from each candidate, followed by Murray Atherton reading aloud the written questions which had been anonymously submitted beforehand by members of the audience.

The candidates :
Green Party - Silvaine Zimmerman
Liberal - Blair Wilson
Conservative - John Weston
NDP - Judith Wilson
Marxist-Leninist - Anne Jamieson

And right off the top comes :
Do you or your party consider water to be exempt from NAFTA ?
M-L, GP, and NDP candidates : Yes, exempt from NAFTA but the NAFTA rules we do have aren't enforceable.
Lib. : Yes, but currently it's legally up to individual provinces to negotiate.
CPC : Says he doesn't know.
Really?

What are the most important issues to this riding:
Lib : Biggest riding in Canada so accessibility and accountability to each part of it. (Boos on Lib accountability)
NDP : Poverty gap and cynicism regarding social justice.
M-L : Productive job base threatened - we can't live on tourism and house construction.
GP : Balancing economy and environmental concerns - more green collar jobs needed.
CPC : The 2010 Games and expanding the military.
No kidding?

CBC :
Lib : Yeah!
GP : No corporate meddling and no ads.
NDP, M-L : Why no meaningful local programming? More money needed.
CPC : The 2010 Games! and more Sheri Ullrich.

Priorities re kids and childcare :
NDP, Lib : Quality daycare and affordable housing.
GP : Daycare should be available where you work but affordable housing is the bigger issue.
CPC : Tax credit for kids in sports programs.
You're fucking killing me here.

Gun regulation :
GP : Tough on gun offense sentencing but more relevant to fix causes like poverty and gangs.
Lib, M-L : Deal with poverty, hunting rifles ok.
NDP ; Fix existing hand gun registry.
CPC : Stiffer sentencing, more cops, increase the military.
?


Abortion :
Lib : Didn't we establish this 20 years ago? (Cheers)
GP, NDP, M-L : Better sex education.
CPC : Will listen to his constituency and support a free vote.
You're toast now, buddy.


Gay rights :
GP, Lib : Duh!
M-L : Yeah, fine, what about a constitution that addresses all human rights?
CPC : The gov't has no place in the bedrooms of the nation.
NDP : Oh give me a break. You have a SoCon agenda and are also personally involved in a vote against the Nis-Ga'a.

Murray : Ok and now to wrap up ....

Of course I'm excluding here how the table some of us were sitting on collapsed noisily during the 'bedrooms of the nation' speech, and how several members of the audience coughed 'Mulroney' repeatedly throughout the proceedings, and how likeable and funny the Lib candidate was in the face of audience opposition, and how GP Silvaine really kicked ass here but with a light and amusing human touch. But I was just wondering...
Hands up everyone who watched CPC John Weston today and thought, "Now here's a serious guy, an intelligent Harvard-educated well-spoken guy, who is sincere and courteous and well-meaning."
OK, good, thanks.
Now hands up everyone who watched John Weston today and saw a sock-puppet.
Yeah, that's what I figured.