About the Blog:

Guelph Politico is locally sourced and dedicated to covering the political and cultural scene in the City of Guelph. Est. 2008.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Debate: the Next Generation

It was announced this week the date for the next, big debate. It'll be five days before the election on October 9th at Guelph Place, much like the canceled one that was originally to take place on Sept. 3rd, until the prospect of the full-blown election forced organizers to pull the plug.

But this promises to be different, according to debate organizer, and my fellow Mercury Community Editorial Board member, Cam Guthrie. He says he's sick with the old debate format and wants to shake it up with a little somethin', somethin'. So when Tom King, Gloria Kovach, Mike Nagy and Frank Valeriote take the stage a Guelph Place, here's what they'll be facing.

• Questions will be around leadership, vision and accountability. Not policies. You want policies - go to their websites.
• Asking identical questions to each candidate will allow Guelph to hear revealing answers to the same questions.
• No notes will be allowed on-stage.

There will only be one candidate on stage at a time. The other candidates will be in a secluded area where they cannot hear the questions or the answers. Each candidate has 30 minutes.

"Secluded area where they cannot hear the questions?" No notes on stage? This sounds a little game show-y to me, a little like Quiz Show or something, but I'm interested to see where it goes.

Guthrie is also asking the public to send in their questions to him, so that they might be posed to the candidates during the debate. E-mail him at cam@camguthrie.ca, but he requests that you "make sure your questions are about vision, accountability and leadership."

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