The leaders of Canada’s four major political parties have faced off in a French-language debate, a night before taking the stage for the English-language counterpart.Wednesday’s event featured Liberal Party leader and current Prime Minister Mark Carney and his top rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, as well as the leaders of Bloc Quebecois, Yves-Francois Blanchet, and the New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh.
The English language debate on Thursday will round out the only two debates before the April 28 vote, which comes after Carney called for a snap election in March, in advance of the officially scheduled October 20 vote.
In a last-minute move, the Leaders’ Debates Commission dropped the Green Party, and its co-leader Jonathan Pedneault, from both debates, saying the party was not running enough candidates to meet the qualifying criteria.
The debate was also moved up two hours to avoid conflicting with a Montreal Canadiens playoff-qualifying match. The majority of Canada’s about 10 million French speakers live in the province of Quebec, where the team is based. Advertisement
Here were the top takeaways from Wednesday’s debate:
Trump looms large
In just under three months in office, US President Donald Trump has undertaken one of the most significant shifts in US relations with Canada in history.
His actions have included imposing wide-ranging tariffs on the northern neighbour and, in an unprecedented threat of annexation, repeatedly suggesting making Canada the “51st” state.
On Wednesday, Carney, whose Liberal party has seen surging support in the face of Trump’s threats, sought to centre the US president, saying the election is about “who will face …
