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Publisher's welcome: The great debate
The federal election leaders' debate has come and gone, but a number of questions remain unanswered. Straight Goods intends to help.
 By: Ish Theilheimer, Publisher, Straight Goods
Stockwell Day made much on Thursday night of his fervent desire for democratic accountability. As if! None of his opponents, however, was able to throw Day's record as a control freak in Alberta in his face. For the record, Straight Goods welcomes Calgary Herald survivor and veteran news writer and editor Gillian Steward to our ranks with her article Day's Alberta record makes mockery of "democratic" image.
Did you ever notice how some politicians seem to get all the good clips and coverage? We do. Why does the media seem determined to turn this election into a two-horse race despite the apparent lameness of at least one horse? (C.A. is down three points to 24% in the November 10, post-debate, National Post Ekos poll.) Parliament Hill reporter Mark Bourrie provides some insight.
And next week, Straight Goods supplies answers to other questions begged in the Leader's debate: what is the real extent of two-tier health care A) in Day's Alberta and B) in Chretien's Canada. Look for reports by Gillian Steward and Cindy Wiggins that answer what should be the burning question, despite Larry Solway's concern over voter apathy.
Here in Killaloe, people at the building supply watched the debate and are puzzled. They say Chretien is long in the tooth and they're tired of him. He had no effective response to any of his opponents. He basically admitted he'd accomplished nothing except to cut health care dangerously. Day's hidden agenda is deeply troubling. His little hand-scrawled sign seemed made people less anxious rather than more. No one knows what Clark actually stands for, although people found him hard not to like. Alexa McDonough didn't seem to make the same personal connection as Clark in the debate, but our informants liked how she stuck to things that matter in a low-income area like ours, like health care and social programs.
But that's not as interesting, we understand, as a two-horse race or corny stunts by brazen blondes with placards on jet-skis.
In other news:
We hope Straight Goods readers are following the News You Can Use section with its growing list of sections: Hot Headlines, Consumer Power, Take Action, Notes and Letters, Media File and Straight Goods Features. These are updated daily and contains all kinds of information you simply can't find anywhere else. We also try to clip, post and summarize pertinent news articles from all over Canada and the Web that readers may find informative, and, better yet, useful in their daily life and work.
You can help make these sections more informative and useful by submitting stories, info, and tips. Please address your info to feedback@straightgoods.com.
Thanks for reading and for passing along news of Straight Goods to others.
- Ish Theilheimer
- November 13, 2000
P.S. PLEASE! Make a contribution to support Straight Goods. There is no other source of our brand of progressive, pro-democracy, pro-consumer journalism in Canada. Our writers and editors cannot work for nothing.
You'll note that we're starting to acquire sponsors, and more are coming on board every week. We're proud to have organizations and businesses that want to identify with Straight Goods and reach Canadians through our publication. But we need your support too in order to keep bringing you important, relevant news you can use, but simply cannot get anywhere else in Canada.
Thanks for your support.
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