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“Someone appears to have misinformed Canada’s federal leaders about the purpose of elections,” this newspaper editorialized Saturday with wit and clarity that its targets have no hope of attaining. I fear it is in some sense untrue; you can’t argue with success and politicians’ toxic house blend of vacuous viciousness usually wins power for someone to misuse feebly. But since most candidates lose elections the same way, maybe evading questions is overestimated tactically as well as morally. At any rate I intend to ask some.

See, the Post editorial went on hopefully “In a democratic environment, elections are held to give voters a chance to assess candidates on the basis of their views, beliefs, proposals and credibility.” What? Not to bicker over who had a drink with Faith Goldy before it became obvious it wasn’t a very good idea?

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Speaking of bad ideas, everyone remembers Kim Campbell’s election “gaffe” that “This is not the time, I don’t think, to get involved in a debate on very, very serious issues.” But between elections wasn’t good for her either, as her Twitter feed has lately reminded us. And she lost horribly.