Political junkies face debate dilemma

By Mike Blanchfield
Canwest News Service

Canadians will have to decide between tuning in to the only English-language debate of the five party leaders running in the federal election, or watch the only U.S. vice-presidential debate. (Tom Hanson/Reuters)

OTTAWA - In the end, YouTube or digital time shifting will probably solve this looming political dilemma.

Oct. 2 is shaping up to be a tough choice for Canadian television viewers: tune into the only English-language debate of the five party leaders running in the federal election, or watch the only U.S. vice-presidential debate. That makes it tougher for Canadians to get a better look at Republican Sarah Palin's bona fides.

Not only has she eclipsed the celebrity of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, but the Alaska governor's hawkish foreign policy pronouncements in her first major television interview with ABC News on Thursday night, such as her observation that war with Russia might become necessary one day, are more relevant to Canadians and the world at large.

The consortium of television networks co-ordinating the Canadian leaders' debates says there's nothing that can be done to deal with the unfortunate overlap that will occur Oct. 2. That night and the previous night of Oct. 1, when the leaders square off in French, was the result of detailed scheduling negotiations, said consortium spokesman Jason MacDonald.

There's no changing it now, or flipping the nights of the two Canadian debates, he said. MacDonald said he's not worried about Canadians tuning out Stephen Harper, Stephane Dion, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe and Elizabeth May in favour of the growing curiosity over Palin when she takes on her Democratic opponent, Senator Joseph Biden.

"Canadians will want to hear party leaders talk about Afghanistan and the economy and the environment, issues that are equally important, if not more so, to average Canadians," said MacDonald.

Gordon Smith isn't that optimistic. He's Canada's former ambassador to NATO and the European Union, a former deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and the director of the Centre of Global Studies at the University of Victoria.

He said Canadians might click their remotes to the Palin-Biden showdown instead. "If you're looking for good theatre, that will probably be better theatre."

Canadians should be concerned about the troubling lack of foreign policy acumen that Palin displayed in the interview, said Smith and other Canadian foreign policy experts.

Particularly troubling, said Smith, was Palin's pronouncement on Russia: she said she supported Georgia and Ukraine in their bid for NATO membership and if that provoked a Russian military action, the United States might have to take military action against Russia as the NATO agreement mandates of its members.

"In one word: scary," said Smith. "I'm very serious about that word. I'm happy to be quoted on it."

Smith said the implications of Palin's remark are serious for Canada and the rest of the world, given the questions that have been raised about the future health of her presidential running mate, 72-year-old John McCain.

"We talk about vice-presidents being one heartbeat away from the presidency. With a guy running who's older than me, this could really happen. One has to take what she said really quite seriously."

Paul Heinbecker, Canada's former United Nations ambassador and a former foreign policy adviser to Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, said after watching Palin that it was "painfully obvious she has no experience in international relations."

"She shows all the signs of somebody who hasn't been paying attention. It's all new to her. She's trying to cope with it. She's done it in a way that leaves me with considerable unease about a) her knowledge and b) her judgment."

Still, Heinbecker said he would watch the Canadian leaders, before catching up with the Palin-Biden debate on-line.

As for the TV scheduling overlap, "I think it's a pity... (but) thanks to modern technology you don't have to choose."