Federal Election Watch

It has been an interesting week..

The Hamilton Rally

Jean Chretien, the man who shares a common origin with me, namely my late grandfather's old hometown of Shawinigan, came to Hamilton.

The lineup to get in was long, winding and began from the Bay Street entrance of Jackson Square.  It took about an hour to get into the Sheraton Hamilton from that spot.  All the people who RSVP'd from the Liberal website got the inside track and were not required to fill the registration cards on the way in.  I went to the table, gave my name and went in.

Jean came to Hamilton to fire up the Liberal faithful.  It was a brand new experience for my 15-year-old son.  Of course he had a tough time understanding what he was saying, but in my case, it was no trouble for me, considering I was raised on the Quebecois accent.  Besides I met the man twice and even had a pointed conversation with him somewhere in Jordan Village in the summer of 2004, weeks after he retired as prime minister of Canada.

And the man didn't disappoint at all.  Jean took some jabs at Mulcair, swung a few hooks at Harper and brought on the big haymaker to put over the son of his late great brother in arms.  The topics were of course, the economy and national unity, the topics that the Liberals should be thriving, especially since they were the first government in decades to balance the budget and create surpluses.

But in the end, in a room where people were packed in like sardines, Justin brought the house down.  His passionate speech brought the crowd to a roar and as Jean took the nearest exit out, Justin began to do what he does best.  He went into the crowd, shook hands and did selfies.  We are now on the heels of Trudeaumania II

The Debate

So the leaders were sparring among each other on a Thursday night, and neither leader got anywhere, unless you're a spinmeister and declared your guy to be the winner.  Chantal Hebert's Quebec colleagues are calling it a Justin Trudeau win.  At least he was a little more forceful, called BS on some obvious fabrications on Harper's part and did everything possible to get his message out.

However neither leader provided a knockout punch.

But one thing is for sure.  The Liberals are very motivated and have overwhelming support for their leader, far stronger than the other two.

The Globe and Mail are paying more attention to Trudeau's economic plans and pointing out the lack thereof between Mulcair and Harper.

But whether or not this is what brings Trudeau to power is another question in itself.  Only time will tell.

We are now 31 days away from the election and from this point, anything can happen.