For participating leaders, it’s practice, practice, practice
I’m a senior reporter with our Parliamentary bureau.
Delivering a standout line, getting under someone’s skin, looking like a prime minister — it’s all practised in detail ahead of time.
Behind closed doors, staff members from each leaders’ campaign usually stage a mock debate with a series of possible questions that could come up on debate night. Each person plays a different leader. Their goal is to throw the leader off their message, push them to lose their cool or say something they shouldn’t.
Their teams dissect every sentence, as well as their leader’s body language, tone and substance. They have to deliver the honest truth to their boss — what needs work. Sometimes, leaders are shown footage of themselves to show them how it’s all coming across on screen and where they’re going wrong.
Today, all that prep was happening in French ahead of the French-language debate. Each campaign will have different goals for what they hope their leader accomplishes on stage and how they want them to connect with Canadians.
Singh and Blanchet are both veterans of this kind of nationally televised federal leaders’ debate. But it will be the first time for Carney and Poilievre.
