The economy will be the focus as the five national party leaders take part in the first of two televised campaign debates Wednesday night.
Ahead of the debates, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Green Leader Elizabeth May all complained that the format didn't allocate enough time to discuss the economy.
On Tuesday, as the financial woes continued south of the border, the broadcast consortium organizing the debates revised the format to ensure that economic questions would top the agenda.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe both agreed to the changes for Wednesday's French-language debate and Thursday's English session.
Expect the main battle tonight to be between Harper and Duceppe, who are in a two-horse race for Quebec's seats.
"The two have been almost tied in the election in terms of polls . . . so those two will be battling it out," CTV's Rosemary Thompson told 麻豆影视net. "Mr. Harper has to look prime ministerial, he has to look warm and must counter the effects of last week, his announcements on culture and crime -- those things didn't go over very well in Quebec."
Leading up to Wednesday's showdown, Dion has been working with a crowd of aides who served under Paul Martin when he was finance minister.
However, a new nation-wide poll, conducted by The Strategic Counsel for CTV and The Globe and Mail, shows Canadians expect Dion not to perform well.
The national survey asked Canadians which party leader they thought would perform the best in the debates. The results were:
- Stephane Dion (6 per cent)
- Stephen Harper (38 per cent)
- Jack Layton (22 per cent)
- Gilles Duceppe (8 per cent)
- Elizabeth May (6 per cent)
- Don't Know/Refused (20 per cent)
"Mr. Dion needs to have the performance of a lifetime because his numbers are at a historic low," Thompson said.
Peter Donolo, of the Strategic Counsel, said Dion could surprise Canadians in the debates.
"Expectations are very low for Mr. Dion," Donolo told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday. "Starting off in French is a bonus for him too because he has a comfort level in that language. If he comes out of there with some momentum that could be quite positive."
"He's been a punching bag the whole campaign so far . . . He needs to show he can go on the offence."
Donolo said the expectations of Harper are high because he is the prime minister.
Meanwhile, Donolo said May has a real opportunity to make an impact in the debates.
"She's a bit of a wildcard," said Donolo. "The fact that she's the only woman crashing this Old Boys' club is going to be positive for her."
He also said May serves as a risk for the Liberals.
"On the one hand she could bring attention to the green platform and Mr. Dion could say 'Well, if you like what she's talking about vote for me because I can do it,'" said Donolo. "Or she could siphon votes away from the Liberals."
May day for Green leader's French skills
May's appearance in the French debate will be her party's coming out party as a major political player.
But analysts said her limited grasp of the French language could hurt her in two ways: if she utters unintelligible sentences that could test the patience of Francophones; and worse, if she chooses to speak infrequently, making her party look like a fringe player and not a legitimate electoral option.
"She has to make a very big effort," Denis Moniere, a Universite de Montreal professor who studies televised leaders' debates, told The Canadian Press.
"She has a serious linguistic handicap."
On Wednesday, May was working with a French teacher leading up to the debate.
On CTV.ca: We will have live streaming coverage of the debates, Wednesday and Thursday nights.
