One very specific one was as a moderator. I used to do a lot of labour arbitration and conciliation and served as a commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission. You're always trying to be extremely balanced, measured and follow a fairly clear set of rules with no deviation. Of course, the broadcasters wanted a free-for-all. If they could get a shouting match and a real tangle, that would be great.
That was a very interesting tension, and I had a video screen on my desk where I was getting instructions from the people who were managing the debate in the rooms beyond, and I had to ignore them because their interests were...they would say as lively as possible, and I would say as disorderly as possible. That's a very interesting tension, and you see various formats where I'd find it unattractive when people are shouting across at one another and would try to avoid that, and other people would find that interesting. That's a very specific comment.
You have to adjust with the times. You have to realize that we use media in a very different way from how we did back in 1979 and 1984, but you take advice from a range of people on what makes for a really informative debate, one that engages the public interest, one that permits the parties' policies to emerge with a degree of clarity, and one can make judgments about the leadership characteristics of the different people who appear in those debates. You try to get into that as far as you can, and as far away as possible from very superficial, emotional reactions that occur from place to place.
I worry an awful lot about what happens with the debates. Do they mean anything to Canadians? How do we get at truth at a time when what are verifiable facts and what are ideological ideas get bandied about a little. Study very carefully how you use the debates as just one part of a large process of first, informing the public broadly, but second, engaging the public broadly, and third, engaging the young. I spent my whole life in universities. I think I did because I find young people so interesting. I think that's a great challenge for us as Canadians. How do we engage young people in saying this is important, and they want to participate in it?
Those are rambling comments.