Last night's English language federal election debate offered nothing new to voters, say three Whitehorse notables who were among an estimated two million Canadians who tuned in to watch.

"Everybody stayed on message and a strong perspective was put out there by each leader about the direction they wanted to take the country,” Whitehorse city councillor Ranj Pillai said in an interview.

And similar to most political pundits who analyzed the two-hour debate among Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, Pillai didn't think there was a clear winner.

"Nobody walked out of that room with a wave behind them,” he said.

Rick Karp, president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, said none of the leaders presented anything new and appeared bent on attacking each other.

"I tended to agree with the critics, that the leaders were very egocentric and focused on wanting to make the other look bad,” Karp said.

"Instead of presenting what they can do or what their parties can do for the country. It just didn't seem to come out.”

As for the watchability of Tuesday's televised debate, the first of two – the French language debate is scheduled for tonight – Karp said it wouldn't qualify as exciting television.

"I think one of the announcers on TV said it was almost boring,” he said.

Brenda Barnes, a spokeswoman for the Yukon Women's Directorate, said there were some insightful moments during the debate but that they would unlikely sway many voters.

"I'm not entirely sure that it's going to change a lot of people's minds and I don't think there was a clear winner,” said Barnes, who observed an interesting clash outside of the anticipated Harper-versus-Ignatieff matchup.

"The most interesting thing was to see the acrimony between Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe,” Barnes noted. "And that likely has a lot to do with the NDP polling number two in Quebec for the first time.”

The NDP won just one seat in Quebec in the 2008 election. According to an Angus-Reid survey released last week, however, the New Democrats are holding down second place behind the Bloc.

The Liberals are trailing the Conservatives in fourth among decided voters in a province that was once a Liberal stronghold.

While the debate provided several one-on-one opportunities for leaders to engage each other on the issues, the three opposition leaders – Ignatieff, Layton and Duceppe – spent the lion's share of 120 minutes attacking Harper.

Ignatieff employed his "jets, jails and corporate tax cuts” line to describe Harper's plans to spend $30 billion on new F-35 stealth fighters, expand capacity in prisons and slash the corporate tax regime from 16.5 per cent to 15 per cent.

The Liberal leader chastised the prime minister for his lack of respect for Canada's democratic institutions – namely his proroguing of Parliament shortly after the 2008 election and withholding information from the House of Commons.

Layton also slammed Harper for his corporate tax cuts and allowing provinces to privatize health care during his tenure as prime minister.

And among Duceppe's assaults against the prime minister, he took Harper to task over his 2004 attempt to arrange a coalition government involving the Bloc and NDP – what Harper said the Liberals, NDP and Bloc would do if Canadians did not give the Conservatives a majority government this time around.

But for Pillai, Layton's shot against Ignatieff over his poor attendance in Parliament made an impression and took the wind out of the Liberal leader's sails.

The exchange gave Layton a platform for one of several zingers he delivered during the debate, and on this occasion, the NDP leader mocked Ignatieff for his lectures on democracy.

"Jack Layton made a very strong point concerning Michael Ignatieff's attendance and it deflated his cause a bit towards his stance on respecting Canada's democratic institutions,” said Pillai.

"Though Ignatieff's points were correct ... at the same time, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the fact he was there for just 30 per cent of the votes.”

For Karp, the back-and-forth between the front runners offered little to voters other than a rehashing of what occurs during question period.

"I was looking for Ignatieff to say, ‘This is what we propose to do,' and I was looking for Harper to say the things his party has done and it didn't come out,” Karp said. "But they were all defensive and back on their heels, pretty much the same old, same old.”

Barnes said she went into watching the debate with no expectations and came out of the experience surprised with Ignatieff's performance.

"It's the most animated I've ever seen him, and I also thought that he wasn't letting go of the whole issue of Mr. Harper dismissing our democratic institutions,” said Barnes.

"And he didn't seem as wooden as I usually find him.”