Moore documents electoral system

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By Pete Vere SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Conservative Party candidate Cameron Ross, an artillery colonel with the Canadian Forces, declined to participate in the postdebate interview.

The reporter was allowed to remain with the five candidates during Mr. Moore's interview and even tape the session.

"You guys aren't nervous standing next to the Marxist-Leninist here?" Mr. Moore asked. "You don't feel like calling Homeland Security?"

At another point in the interview, Mr. Moore, offered insight into his project.

"I'm trying to break this down very simply for Americans, who basically have a hard time understanding how to vote themselves," he said.

When asked for whom he would vote in the Canadian election, Mr. Moore told local reporters: "All but the Conservatives. The others, they all said some incredibly good things. It would be a tough call from the First Peoples to the NDP to the Liberal. Even our Commie friend [Mike Taffarel] over here said some good things."

Sault Ste. Marie, a steel town of about 75,000 nestled in rural Ontario, is one of 308 districts being contested in Tuesday's elections. Americans go to the polls three weeks later.

After the interview, Mr. Moore spent 90 minutes going door to door with Mr. Martin, the incumbent, who told reporters he admired Mr. Moore's work as a documentary producer and critic of American culture.

Tonya Desjardins, fiancee and campaign manager for Mr. McLeod, expressed similar admiration for Mr. Moore's work.

Nevertheless, she said she was troubled by some of Mr. Moore's criticism about Canada's electoral system, and wondered aloud whether the filmmaker's use of irony might come back to bite her future husband.

In particular, she noted Mr. Moore's apparent disdain for Canada's continued use of paper ballots, pencils to mark them and individual counting by hand.

"I was just concerned whether he is going to portray our candidates as idiots like he has in other movies," Miss Desjardins said. "My [future] husband is not an idiot."

Nevertheless, Miss Desjardins said she will reserve judgment on Mr. Moore's latest film until she sees the final cut.