Here’s a quick run down of the candidate’s performances at last night’s Edmonton-Strathcona all-candidates forum at the Myer Horowitz Theatre:
Rahim Jaffer, Conservative – Rahim Jaffer is a seasoned retail politician and handled himself well in the face of a fairly hostile audience. As a veteran politician having spent 11 years in Ottawa, this type of forum is clearly old hat for Jaffer.
Linda Duncan, NDP – She didn’t steal the show, but Linda Duncan performed much better in last night’s forum than she did in the 2006 forum at the same location. Duncan was disciplined with her reponses and was clearly on the NDP message as she took on Jaffer.
Jane Thrall, Green – Out of all the candidates, Jane Thrall impressed me the most. As a first-time candidate at her first forum, Thrall was well-spoken, succinct with her points, and was impressively clever when she wasn’t sure what a Green Party policy on a specific issue was.
Claudette Roy, Liberal – Thanks for showing up. If Roy is a strong candidate, her performance at last night’s forum sure didn’t show it. After being nominated over a year ago, Roy either wasn’t able communicate with the audience or simply didn’t have a grasp of what her party stood for. Next.
Kevan Hunter, Marxist-Leninist – If there was a Sarah Palin Award for Preparedness, it would be awarded to Kevan Hunter with distinction. At the beginning of each response, it seemed that he spent half of his allocated time trying to think of ways he could relate his responses to Marxist or Leninist theory, rather than actually answering the question.
