MP Justin Pierre James Trudeau walks to work on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Tuesday, June 19, 2012. (QMI AGENCY/Tony Caldwell)

OTTAWA - One can rightly prognosticate that more attention was paid to furry rodents poking their heads out of burrows Saturday than to Liberal leadership aspirants squeezed into comfy chairs panhandling for votes.

While Wiarton Willie was shadow watching in Ontario and his U.S. woodchuck rival Punxsutawney Phil doing the same in Pennsylvania, the nine contenders seeking to lead a rump Grit caucus were in Winnipeg for a non-debate.

Though billed as a debate, the get-to-know them session, a sleepy Oprah-like chat with an Alberta moderator who happened to be a failed Liberal candidate in a recent Calgary by-election, did not pit combatants against each other.

Missing were slippers, brandy snifters and a roaring fire.