7 notable moments from the French leaders' debate
CBC
Four federal leaders squared off in the first of two debates Wednesday night in Montreal, covering a range of topics including the U.S. trade war, housing, the environment and even strawberries.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh all took part in the French-language debate. Green Party co-Leader Jonathan Pedneault was set to take part but was excluded in a last-minute decision by the debates commission.
Here are seven key moments and exchanges from Wednesday's political parlay.
Carney was expected to be the main target during the debate, given his Liberals have been holding a steady lead in the polls.
Blanchet took a swipe at Carney fairly early on during the first discussion about U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war.
After Carney made his pitch about why he would be the best to negotiate with Trump, Blanchet said the Liberal leader — who has previously not held elected office — had little political experience.
"You say you're a negotiator — perhaps with tax havens — but when it comes to trade agreements I haven't seen the proof," Blanchet shot at Carney in reference to his previous role at Brookfield Asset Management.
Carney rebutted by saying that in his short time as prime minister he had reached an agreement with the premiers to start lifting interprovincial trade barriers.
With the Bloc and NDP trailing in the polls, both Singh and Blanchet are asking voters to elect more of their candidates to be able to leverage the governing party.
At one point, Blanchet was making his case for a minority government with several Bloc MPs so that Quebec interests are "taken into account."
But Singh argued that his party had been more productive during the last four years, touting the policies the NDP put forward during its supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals.
"Unfortunately, in the last minority government you showed that you were as useless as the monarchy is," Singh lobbed at the Bloc leader.
Singh later made another case to elect New Democrat MPs when he pointedly asked Carney about subsidies for oil and gas companies.
"Would you agree to stop these subsidies?" Singh asked.
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