Friday, October 8, 2010

The Great Debate

On October 6th my CreComm class sat in plastic chairs for two hours while mayoral candidates Judy Wasylycia-Leis and Mayor Sam Katz debated. Newscasters from the Winnipeg Free Press and CTV crowed around the chairs, and a few of our classmates got interviewed for their political views on the radio and TV (me excluded, but I am in the background of Pam's interview - does that count?).

I thought the mayoral debate was interesting. It was one large argument that kept on coming back to the same issues: inner-city community problems, gangs, police, and transit. Katz was sharp-tongued and slightly arrogant, throwing insults at Wasylycia-Leis. At one point he called her "mom". Wasylycia-Leis insults were less noticeable, below the radar, the two candidates in a caged cat fight for two hours.

Wasylycia-Leis talked (sometimes rambled) about how she wanted to change the polices that Katz had made as mayor. And Katz talked about how he would continue on the same course. I found that I didn't learn anything new from Katz. He was just defending his standpoint.

In the end, neither candidates won me over 100%. They both had similar view points, only arguing on the smallest of issues. I wish I had learned more about the other changes they wanted to implement in Winnipeg. Not just about how communities need more resources or how rapid transit would be liek so awesome, bb. (Katz has been talking about it for years - where is it Mr. Mayor?) Where was the actual debate in the debate?

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