A young man wore the perfect T-shirt to the 2015 federal all-candidates forum Thursday night at UNBC for the Cariboo-Prince George and Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies ridings.
"PLAY NICE," it read in capital letters.
Compared to the nonsense that has gone on from both audience members and candidates during the Republican nomination debates in the U.S. this fall, this was boring Canadian at its finest. The candidates were tough but respectful, the crowd boisterous but attentive.
And what a crowd it was. The Canfor Theatre at UNBC seats 350 and virtually every seat was full, with as many as 70 people standing in the back or sitting on the stairs, hanging on to the words of each candidate.
Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies went first, with Barry Blackman of the Progressive Canadian Party, Bob Zimmer from the Conservatives, the NDP's Kathi Dickie, Matt Shaw of the Liberals and the Green Party's Elizabeth Biggar.
Zimmer demonstrated both the knowledge and the confidence of an incumbent but he was getting no free passes from his opponents. They hounded him for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women, for more health dollars sent back to the provinces and about Stephen Harper.
Dickie was the only one who really made anything stick. Her strongest moment came when she held out an olive branch to Zimmer and then beat him over the head with it.
"I believe that you see it (missing and murdered aboriginal women) as a tragedy and I believe that you do care and you want it solved," Dickie told Zimmer. "But... why am I seen as a inferior disposable object and have been for years?"
Shaw followed up with his best line of the night, insisting this issue "... is a national emergency and the perception is out there that if this were any other demographic, white women around the Greater Toronto Area, [there would have been a inquiry]."
Still, Zimmer's experience shone through in the end.
The same can't be said for his Conservative counterpart running in Cariboo-Prince George. Todd Doherty got put through the ringer by Tracy Calogheros of the Liberals, independent candidate Sheldon Clare, Richard Jaques of the Greens, the NDP's Trent Derrick and Christian Heritage candidate Adam De Kroon.
Doherty tried to pin down Derrick on Senate reform but was tripped up by both Calogheros and Clare. Then when Doherty went after Derrick on international trade, he fell into a trap. When asked if he had read the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, he replied he had. Derrick quickly asked how that was possible since the full document has yet to be released.
Doherty quickly corrected himself, stating that he had read the summary document, earning him jeers from the audience.
And then Calogheros put on her brass knuckles.
"You answered a question falsely, and then tried to pivot," she said. "That's not right."
Doherty soldiered on but the damage was done.
The public speaking experience both Calogheros and Clare have served them well, as they were able to engage the crowd the best with sharp, concise comments.
When all was said and done, however, democracy and voter engagement was the real winner. An overflow audience came out on a rainy night to listen to the candidates and speak with them before, during the break and afterwards. The crowd was a diverse one, with good turnout from students and seniors, mixed with several dozen party loyalists. What they saw and heard were a group of intelligent men and women passionate about this region and eager to represent its residents in Parliament.
