Ending The Debate About The Debate and Not Going To War Over The War

Amid mounting public outrage over their exclusion of Elizabeth May from the televised election debates, Conservative leader, Stephen Harper, and NDP leader, Jack Layton, have backed down. The big boys will now let the new kid on the block into the room.

Or, in the words of Layton, "This whole issue of debating about the debate has become a distraction to the real debate that needs to happen".

So right that, we wouldn't want to be distracted by the whole debate over the debate, would we? And it's not like this decision would have anything to do with the very real fear that you might just actually pay for those 'business as usual' 'old boys club only' tactics this time around, would it?

In other news, Harper has set 2011 as the 'end date' for Canada's participation in the war in Afghanistan. Although the Afghanistan mission had been extended to 2011 earlier this year, with a shift to emphasizing priorities of reconstruction and development in the region, Harper had never clearly come out with accepting that as a troop pullout date. In fact, he refused to do so. Until now that is.

And although some might consider announcing such intentions to the world at large at this point to be irresponsible, we must remember that we are currently in the midst of an election campaign.

"I think people have to realize that there's an election going on, and there's going to be a lot of promises," said Steven Staples, president of the Ottawa-based Rideau Institute, a public policy think-tank.

"He's likely to say whatever he can to win a majority," he told CTV.ca.

No. Really?
Who would have thunk it?