The leader with almost nothing to lose looked to land most of the hits during the televised B.C. election TV debate in Vancouver on Wednesday night.
Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver, who last week stayed quietly in his corner during most of a radio debate, took centre stage, literally and figuratively.
He put B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clark on the defensive and knocked NDP Leader John Horgan off balance more than once.
In a conventional three-way leaders’ debate, the incumbent takes most of the hits. This time around, with Weaver taking a surprising number of jabs at Horgan, it looked like the Opposition leader was forced on the defensive as much as the premier.
After Horgan rapped Weaver for supporting two B.C. Liberal budgets, the lone Green MLA fired back: “Unlike your party, I actually think about what I’m going to vote for.”
Then he slammed the NDP caucus for following the party line on every vote for four years and told Horgan: “As a career politician, you know nothing but saying no and being antagonistic to the Liberals.”
Another jab at Horgan about “la-la-land economics” was followed by the jeer: “Are you going to lose your temper with me now? Because you did last week.”
Horgan, who tried to focus on the Liberals through the exchange, finally said: “You don’t look like a different politician to me, Andrew. You look like all the rest of the politicians.”
Weaver asked Horgan about the NDP’s promise to eliminate Medical Services Plan fees.
After Horgan reiterated it, Weaver said: “That may be fine and dandy, but you basically are saying you have a plan to develop a plan to come up with a plan.”
Horgan’s response was disconcerting: “Correct.”
After some cross-talk, Weaver said: “Are you going to get mad at me now, too?”
Horgan: “Oh, come on, man.”
There was also a confusing exchange where Weaver talked over Horgan about the political party fundraising controversy, to the point where Horgan appeared to predict a Liberal election win based on big money donations, saying later the only way to stop it is to curb donations.
Earlier, Horgan got off a much better response to Clark, who rapped him for not once asking a question about softwood lumber, which this week turned into a crisis.
“If you came to question period more often, maybe I would have the opportunity,” he said.
For her part, Clark dwelled on the same points from the debate four years ago, defending a government that is focused on jobs and controlling government spending, in the face of two men who want to raise taxes.
Asked by Weaver why people should trust her after none of the liquefied natural gas jobs she promised in 2013 have materialized, she said her opponents would wave the white flag, but “I don’t think people want us to give up.”
When Clark was asked about trust, in light of a police investigation into political-party fundraising, her bogus claim that the NDP had hacked into a Liberal computer system, and the quiet salary the party paid her on top of her premier’s salary, she ducked. Later, she referred to controversies she’s experienced, but said she’s always had people’s interests at heart.
The amount of time Horgan and Weaver spent attacking each other might be an indication of what their polling is saying.
The main takeaway was that, for all his disdain for career politicians, and protestations that he’s not one, Weaver is pretty adept at the game.
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