I love CBC reality TV! Of course I had to watch.
It’s an interesting look at what the young folks are thinking of these days, too. Two of them were conservative (Rahim and Kevin) and two progressive (Alika and Pam). Rahim was South Asian, and Alika Aboriginal. Kim Campbell, Paul Martin, John Turner and the premier of Newfoundland were on a question panel, but it was up to the audience to give the final results. Let’s see how it went down:
Alika took an early lead with his idea of another level of Parliament for First Nations, giving the example of the poor fellow who got drunk whose two daughters died on the reserve a few months ago. If decisions could have moved faster rather than through Indian Affairs, the town would have been dry and that tragedy could have been avoided.
Pam made a plea for universal post-secondary education, and came in second. Rahim’s idea had to do with free trade with developing nations, and Kevin presented his idea for business incentives for innovation. Kim Campbell shot those last two down. I kind of love Kim Campbell: sharp as a tack, and hilarious.
A question about encouraging underrespresented minorities provoked some great discussion. Rahim played the “no quotas” card, Kevin echoed. Pam pointed out that access to resources and connections prevent minorities from participating, but the big touche came from Alika who said, “Treating unequal people equally is inequality.”
Each candidate was also presented with random, worst-case scenarios. Kevin stepped in it when he said he would rat on his own wife for a crime she committed years ago. I mean, not even letting her turn herself in? There’s a guy who’s not going on too many dates from now on. Rahim stumbled too, choosing to do nothing with a hijacked plane. Alika chose to grant independence to a Quebec referendum with barely a 51% majority– what was he thinking? But Pam nailed her answer, deferring to the UN and a multilateral force rather than join the Americans in Iran. Rahim got eliminated, but that’s no surprise: he placed last in the polls, usually with less than 5% of the audience vote all night.
The final round gave each of then final arguments. Kevin did the best he could, going in with something like 3% of the audience vote. But Pam! After acing the entire show, she stumbled. Merely reiterating her opening remarks, not making eye contact and appearing to have lost her mojo– what happened?Alika gave the best argument of the night with a plea for diversity and political participation to come up with the best ideas for the best Canada. He won.
I wonder if there’s an age limit? It looks pretty fun.