Looking back at the "great debate" of 1991
From 28 Days | April 29, 2005

There is one B.C. election debate that stands out for its impact – the 1991 debate featuring Social Credit premier Rita Johnston, the NDP's Mike Harcourt and the Liberals' Gordon Wilson.

Wilson was a communtiy college instructor who took over the leadership of the Liberals in 1987, a party that hadn't won a seat in the legislature since 1975.

Wilson had had to argue and lobby to be included on the stage with the other two leaders.

And when Harcourt and Johnston started verbally sparring, he seized the moment with a line that defined the debate.

"This reminds me of the legislature, and here's a classic example of why nothing ever gets done in the province of British Columbia. Right here, you saw it live on CBC."

His performance was hailed as a triumph, and says he knew it right away.

"There I was sort of dressed up in my little suit and tie with my glasses, trying to get the policies out saying, 'Look, this is what we stand for.'

"It was completely spontaneous, and yet I knew as soon as I did that and the sort of stunned open-mouthed looks of the two opponents, I knew that's it – nailed."

Wilson says in that single moment his party's fortunes were turned around.

"It was amazing. People whom I have never heard of or seen before all of a sudden came out of the woodwork telling me they had always been there," he says.

"I had more advice given from more backroom political pundits after that, and when the numbers started to move as significantly as they did, all of a sudden the campaign took on a whole different view."

Wilson says he went into the election expecting to win two seats. Instead, his Liberals took 17 and became the official opposition.

What made the debate a success from Wilson's point of view wasn't simply his famous one-liner.

It was the fact the open and unscripted format of the debate allowed him to actually present his party's position.

"My two opponents, Rita Johnston and Mike Harcourt, had these huge binders, with all kind of key tabs on each subject that might possibly come up," he says.

"I didn't have anything notes at all. I had nothing in front of me and because the podiums were so close together, of course one could see quite clearly what all their notes are.

"And you could see sort of highlighted you know, 'Go after Harcourt on the numbers,' and 'Hold up the American Express and the credit card kind of thing.' These were all notes given to the other candidates. so they were extremely scripted."

Greg Lyle is a political strategist who has worked with the B.C. Liberals, the federal Conservatives and other parties.

He says political debaters need to do exactly what Wilson did in 1991 – put in a credible performance in the debate – but also provide "the moment" that will define the debate and be repeated again and again.

"The real impact of the debate is not actually the debate itself, but what people say about the debate later. What I'm really looking for is: what is The Clip. What are people going to see on the evening news that tells us what that debate is all about?"

And Lyle agrees with Wilson that a single moment in the leaders' debate can not only change the momentum of a campaign, but can change the results at the ballot box.