1979 leaders' debate (highlights)
Broadcast Date: May 13, 1979
An estimated six to eight million viewers tune in as Ed Broadbent, Joe Clark and Pierre Trudeau confront each other in the 1979 leaders' debate. The leaders take turns going head-to-head, challenging each other on issues including the economy and federal-provincial relations. In this CBC-TV recap, reporter David Halton says the debate was at times boring and fascinating, but the best viewing came in the third segment when Clark and Trudeau faced off and "dropped the velvet gloves."
1979 leaders' debate (highlights)
Before the debate, the Toronto Star ran a piece in which media watchers advised viewers to look for the following signs that the leaders were under stress:
- Joe Clark's "tell-tale chopping of the hands" or "nervous humourless giggle"
- Pierre Trudeau's "enraged gorilla" expression
- Ed Broadbent "hurting where it counts" with a voice that "rises to a shriek" and eyes that "bug out."
• Even Marshall McLuhan weighed in before the debate, saying TV was not the best medium for conveying ideas. "Television is basically a world of fantasy – you have use charisma, not policies," he said. "Charisma is looking like a lot of other people. Broadbent might have charisma, but he has so many hot policies to communicate, they cancel out the charisma." Clark, meanwhile, was "a cartoon character" who "has lent a lighthearted air to the whole election – he's so delightfully preposterous." As for Trudeau: "He has a face reminiscent of an Iroquois brave," said McLuhan.
• After the debate, the Toronto Star agreed with David Halton's assessment (seen in this clip) that there was no knockout blow in the debate. A poll by CTV found that 32 per cent of viewers thought Trudeau had won, while 18 per cent chose Clark and 18 per cent chose Broadbent as the winner. The rest of those polled – 32 per cent – were undecided.
• Joe Clark's Progressive Conservatives won a minority government in the 1979 election, taking 136 seats to the Liberals' 114.
1979 leaders' debate (highlights)
Medium: Television
Program: The National
Broadcast Date: May 13, 1979
Guest(s): Ed Broadbent, Joe Clark, Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Anchor: George McLean
Reporter: David Halton, Knowlton Nash
Duration: 6:14
Last updated:
March 18, 2011
1979 leaders' debate (highlights).
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: March 18, 2011.
[Page consulted on Feb. 12, 2012.]