Arnie was at the debate, but left when Tarek Fatah’s no-show was announced. One of his readers stayed and claims in the comments:
I stayed for the whole debate. Two things I observed.
The first 15 minutes of the speech by Shaikh were spent running down Tarek’s books, how this was related to the debate and allowed by the half dead moderator is beyond me.
Secondly a large part of the speech was spend wisrtfully [SIC] speaking of how wonderful it would be if sharia law came to Canada, how it would be imposed on non muslims if the majority desired it, etc.
The room filled and Mr Ali told some stories of how Mohammed was open and welcoming to everyone. Then Mr Farooq Khan went to the podium and said there was good news and bad news. The bad news was that Tarek Fatah was not coming. This elicited cries of Allah Akbhar from some of the audience. Mr Khan did tell them to calm down. He then proceeded to call Tarek a coward and tell of how much effort he had expended to organize the event. He then said that the “debate” (now a monologue) would continue. There was some applause and some in the audience again chanted Allah Akhbar. He then introduced the moderator Pastor Neil Bulloch. I left.
