Getting Punched in the Face: the Secret to Justin Trudeau's Debate Prep
Getting Punched in the Face: the Secret to Justin Trudeau's Debate Prep
We spoke to the Liberal leader's sparring partner ahead of tonight's French language debate.
When Justin Trudeau called the election no one asked for, it was his to lose.
We’re not quite three weeks into the thing and sure enough he appears to be losing it. Heading into tonight’s first leaders debate, the Liberals have blown a six point lead in the polls and now sit just behind Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives.
Trudeau has struggled to make the case for why he triggered a snap election in the middle of a global pandemic and everywhere the man goes, he’s hounded by protesters from both ends of the political spectrum. On the right, the anti vaccination death cult wants to hang him dead for “high treason” because… something, something horse medicine.
On the left, Trudeau has to reckon with the fact that he says all the right things about climate change and reconciliation but then buys a pipeline that will cut across dozens of unceded Indigenous lands.
You might say tonight’s French language debate is the most important of Trudeau’s career. To give you an idea, the Liberal leader was asked, on his first day of campaigning, if he’d resign should his party fail to secure a majority government on Sept. 20. Well, now it appears he’ll be lucky to eke out any kind of government and a bad showing tonight will only feed those questions.
“This is how he likes it,” says Marc Miller, Trudeau’s high school chum and the incumbent in Ville-Marie--Le-Sud-Ouest--Îles-des-Soeurs. “He does best when the cards are stacked against him.”
Miller spoke to us about the Liberal leader’s debate preparation and what we can expect to see when the party leaders square off on TVA Nouvelles tonight at 8 p.m. Worth noting, only Trudeau and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet are native French speakers. This will be O’Toole’s first federal leaders debate and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s third.
EDITOR’S NOTE:If you pick up on any bitterness on Miller’s part, it’s because wegot into a boxing match two years agoand I beat the brakes off him. Well at least that’s how I remember it. Please don’t Google it.
The Rover: You’re close with Justin Trudeau but do they let you in on debate prep?
Marc Miller: Usually I just spend some quiet time with the prime minister and we’ve gone boxing in the past, when he’s been in Montreal, but other than that no. Debate day for leaders is usually one where they have their own routine, they get in the right headspace and think about the message they want to convey to Canadians. But I’m not the guy, I get ideas and people can take them or leave them.
TR: So you were boxing with the prime minister on debate day?
MM: In 2015 and 2019 we’d do some sparring. We’re not very good boxers frankly despite press releases to the contrary. We’re pretty sucky but it’s a good way to get in your zone and get focussed. I’ve been doing that on and off with him for some time.
TR: The debate prep itself, even though you’re not a part of it, going into it, what has to be drilled into the candidate’s head?
MM: A lot of that is proprietary stuff that people will never let you know. Other stuff is just to remind the prime minister of who he is and what got him the confidence of Canadians in the past. In this particular situation — it is usually unadvised for people to run on their records — but we’re hoping to come out of a once in a lifetime pandemic and we’ve had people’s backs when the chips are down.
I think also to demonstrate to Canadians what this pandemic has exposed, which is further inequalities and what the federal government’s role is in doing that. That’s where certain elements of the platform need to be driven home. What it comes down to is preparing the leader that is vying to keep his job and renew the confidence of Canadians.
In this case, because we’re a bilingual country, it’s important for the leader to surround himself with anglophones ahead of the English debate and francophones ahead of the French debates so you’re getting your rhythm down.
TR: How many days before the debate is he surrounding himself with francophones?
MM: Two or three. Then he falls naturally back into his mother tongue. These are all little intricacies, the main point is to project confidence, to be prepared and be focused on who you are. You could talk to tacticians for hours on end but those are things, when you’re prepping someone, that you want to drill down on.
TR: Is there room in a debate, even though you have to project confidence, to also project humility, to be honest about your shortcomings and mistakes?
MM: You’ll get different strategists tell you different things. I believe that being the country we are, which is a great country with many imperfections, there needs to be a recognition of that. People might say it projects weakness but sometimes showing your vulnerabilities is a strength. It depends on the mix of personalities involved. Maybe, in the United States, there’s not much room for that but I think Canada, where we do recognize our imperfections, that shows to Canadians who you are and what they can expect from you as a leader.
TR: It’s the first French language debate tonight, do you think anyone could surprise us?
MM: It depends on the expectations. Their language skills will be heavily scrutinized and those who do well tend to be those who surpass expectations by communicating in a language that isn’t their mother tongue. Conversely those who are fluent in French the expectations are quite high so any faltering will be focussed on.
TR: Do you think there’s any sandbagging? Do you think someone like Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole might have been underplaying his French skills so he could surpass expectations? I did that in college once for an oral presentation.
MM: I’m not going to comment on Erin O’Toole’s language skills though I take exception with some of his other skills he’s purporting to have.
TR: Are the debates generally where people start paying attention to the race? Has everything until now not mattered?
MM: Among the voters who are most tuned in I think debates matter a great deal. Less so for everyone else. A lot of people will get their impression of the leaders not by watching them but by hearing others speak about the debates. I haven’t formed an opinion myself but people watch to get an idea of what they could expect from a prime minister. I don’t know how that moves things. Obviously the closer it is to early voting or the final vote on Sept. 20, you want to have a good showing.
I’ve always felt, campaigning in Quebec, that August isn’t as important as those last few weeks. Things will really start to ramp up in September. They’ll take off.
TR: Are there any crazy special requests that you know of? Some leaders won’t drink cold water on the lectern because it closes their throats. Does the temperature of the room have to be just right so no one gets all sweaty. Are you privy to any of that?
MM: I dunno that there’s any leader that just wants green M&M’s in a brandi glass, no. Was that Beyonce?
TR: I believe it was Ozzy Osbourne.
ROVERS!
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Your friend,
Chris
I loved his comment about OToole. Had me laughing out loud. This was not the right time to call an election. Priorities are elsewhere as we again start a fourth wave. Did Trudeau think he could win because he provided CERB and daily briefings. His only chance now is he is the lesser of 2 evils. Thats not a policy to run on…. Or is it?