Moore documents electoral system

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario

With the U.S. preparing to elect a president, filmmaker Michael Moore has his lens on Canada and its electoral system, hoping to help Americans “learn how to vote.”

The rare glimpse of Mr. Moore in production mode came last week when the Oscar-winning director interviewed five candidates for Canada’s Parliament following a public debate here.

The interview, in turn, provided access for reporters, despite efforts of one member of the film crew to shoo reporters away.

The member, a tall man with bushy brown hair and a beard who appeared to be in his mid-30s, repeatedly warned one reporter not to approach Mr. Moore.

When the reporter persisted with Mr. Moore, the filmmaker responded: “It’s just a movie.” He added that he does not comment on films in production.

Without elaborating, cameraman John Walter described the film project as a comparison of the U.S. and Canadian electoral systems.

Canada is electing its next government Tuesday, and few Americans seem aware.

The excitement of the upcoming U.S. presidential election might explain one reason Canada’s election gets so little attention in the U.S. media. Apparently, Mr. Moore hopes to change that.

For the film, he interviewed Mike Taffarel of the Marxist-Leninist Party; Paul Bichler of the Liberal Party; incumbent Tony Martin of the socialist New Democratic Party (NDP); Luke McMichael of the Green Party; and Cory McLeod of the First Peoples National Party (FPNP).

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.