English Debate

Unlike a fair number of Canadians that are either not watching either of the debates on TV this evening, or are watching the American vice-presidential debate, I've been watching the English debate. I've been pretty pleased with the show, it hasn't bored me to tears, and I've learned a fair amount. I was pleased that Elizabeth May has come across as very knowledgeable on the topics that they've been talking about, and very well spoken, in my view. And I was rather surprised that Jack Layton has impressed me as much as he has.
I noticed some trends though, while watching the debate. The first one that I noticed was how all the candidates have been tearing apart Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The second thing that I noticed is that Jack Layton is really vying for the aboriginal/first nations votes, often bringing up issues that involve first nations peoples, such as health care, and crime rates. Many of the candidates were referring to the United States, and that we don't need any of that up here in Canada. The times when all of the candidates fought to speak were annoying, and I was glad that they did not last very long.
I don't really think that having two different debates in different languages is really a good idea, because I hear that Stephane Dion did an excellent job in the French debate yesterday, but I didn't see that debate... I didn't even know that there was one, so although he did really well, if he swayed and voters, the few who watched it will not have an affect on the Liberal's overall gains in the polls.
I still don't know who I'm going to vote for, but now I know that I'd really like to see May have some power in parliament. It also seems that the commercials and those people who aren't voting, are based on the party leaders, not the local MP's. I think that this is too bad, because everyone should be out there voting... at least vote for who you'd like to represent you. I am definitely voting, I just don't know if I'm going to vote based on my preference for PM or for MP.