Debate reviews are in!

In a federal leaders' debate, the fight to shape the narrative by the parties — who won? who lost? — begins the second the debate ends. 

So how did the four leaders stack up in their performances?

They helped us prep for the debate last week, and now we've brought them back for a debate debrief — David McLaughlin, former chief of staff to Brian Mulroney, Scott Reid, former deputy chief of staff to Paul Martin and director of communications for the 2005-2006 Liberal campaign and Kathleen Monk, former director of strategic communications for Jack Layton and a spokesperson for the NDP campaign in 2011.

Stephen Harper

"Strangely, he looked weakest on his strongest topic, the economy," said Reid. 

McLaughlin agreed. "The only area where he was knocked off his game a bit was, ironically, the economy. But he recovered," he said.

Enough to win any new voters?

"He didn't repel any of his voters," McLaughlin hedged. "I'm not certain he compelled any new ones in, though."

Monk agreed with that assessment. "He would have kept his universe, but he's not growing his universe at all."

Overall, all three said the Conservative Party leader had possibly his best performance in a debate. 

"He appeared more inviting, more welcoming, more appealing. He just seemed a little bit more human than frankly, he often does," said Reid.

Thomas Mulcair

For Monk, Mulcair was the most successful of the leaders at achieving his goal — to engage Harper on the economy and the Senate.

"He clearly rocked the Prime Minister on the question of the recession," Reid agreed. 

Both Monk and Reid said the New Democrat leader has work to do on his performance and delivery.

"From a presentation standpoint, I thought he looked a little Stepford Wife, kind of had a bit of an eerie smile on his face," Reid said. "Those are stylistic issues that aren't gamechangers."

The most interesting part about Mulcair's performance for Reid was his choice to engage Justin Trudeau on the issue of Quebec sovereignty. 

"If I was Mulcair, I'd be saying to myself, 'I should have never reached for that cheese, I didn't need to put my hand in that mousetrap'," Reid said.

Justin Trudeau

"He did in fact wear pants," Monk said, referencing the Conservative Party's low expectations of the Liberal leader going into Thursday's debate. 

"He was in there, he was scrappy, he performed very much like an Opposition leader," she added.

McLaughlin was less impressed, calling Trudeau's performance uneven.

"If he was wearing pants, I still think they were short pants," he said. "He did well enough to fight another day. He got back into the campaign."

Elizabeth May

Although an "incredible force in these things," Monk thought May needed to "be more than a referee" in the debate. 

"I think she was effective but it remains to be seen if she'll be included in future debates," Monk said.

Reid said he was surprised by May's tough stance in pushing for a position from Mulcair on the Kinder Morgan pipeline. 

"She clearly wanted to bite into that thing. She tends to be very watchable — she has great mastery of content, she has a very commonsense, plain language way of speaking. All of that was on display."