Leaders of four major Canadian political parties faced a French debate before taking the stage for their English counterparts.
Wednesday’s event featured Liberal leader and current prime minister Mark Carney, his top rival, conservative leader Pierre Polièvre, and leaders of Brock Quebecois, Yves Francoa Blanche and New Democrat Jagmeet Singh.
Thursday’s English debate closes two debates before the April 28 vote, ahead of the officially scheduled vote on October 20th, after Carney called for a snap election in March.
In a last minute move, the leader’s debate committee dropped Greene Party and its co-leader Jonathan Pedneux from both discussions, saying the party doesn’t run enough candidates to meet eligibility criteria.
The argument also rose for two hours to avoid conflict with the Montreal Canadiens playoff-qualified games. Most of Canada’s roughly 10 million French speakers live in Quebec, where the team is based.
This was the number one takeaway from Wednesday’s discussion:
Trump is approaching big
In his less than three months in office, US President Donald Trump has taken on one of the most significant changes in relations with the United States in history.
His actions repeatedly suggest that they would impose broad tariffs on their north neighbours and put Canada in the “51st” state in the threat of unprecedented annexation.
On Wednesday, Carney, who has seen the surge in support of the liberals facing Trump’s threat, tried to center the US president on Wednesday, saying the election was about “who will face Trump.”
“In a crisis, you need to have a plan,” Carney said.
Poilliebre, who was previously compared to Canadian “mini-tramps,” has pledged to negotiate a transaction that lowers tariffs while saying it would protect Canada’s sovereignty.
“We will never become an American nation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Blanchett, the leader of Brock Quebecoa, accused Carney of not protecting Quebec in his early response to Trump.
“So far, all we’ve seen is the efforts being deployed to protect the Ontario economy, and this is how Canada defines itself,” he said.
Time for change?
For Poilliebre, who had a turnout to lead the Liberal Party for months, the Canadians sought to drive one unified theme of wanting change after the nine and a half years of liberal government led primarily by Justin Trudeau.
Poilliebre has repeatedly made the same promises that Kearney made during his powers, denounced the party for raising housing prices and weakening the economy by blocking the development of natural resources.
Carney shot back at the time he led the Bank of England from 2013 to 2019.
“You’re like Justin Trudeau… we need to change, you, Mr. Carney haven’t changed,” Poilliebre told Carney.
“Mr. Poilliable isn’t Mr. Trudeau, and neither is me,” Carney shot.
What did the candidate say about immigration?
Poilliebre also specifically aimed at the Liberal Party’s immigration policy.
Trudeau has boosted visas working in Canada to address the post-Covid-19 pandemic workforce shortage, but has dramatically cut those caps last year as critics seized the country’s rapid population growth.
The Conservative candidate said the Liberals allowed immigrants to “go out of control.”
Carney also tried to differentiate himself from past liberal policies, saying “the system is not working, especially after the pandemic.” He said he supports keeping the low cap in place for the time being.
Poilliebre added that he will block people seeking safety from Haiti, where violence is engulfed, but said Carney supports a temporary cap for asylum seekers.
“We have to be human, but we have to be realistic. Canada cannot be accepted by anyone,” he said.
Meanwhile, New Democrat Singh said Canada should end its “safe third party” agreement with the United States in light of Trump’s crackdown on refugees and asylum seekers. The agreement allows Canada to turn back asylum seekers from the US.
“We are talking about dangerous situations, so we need to deal with it with compassion,” Singh said.
A rapid increase in oil production and pipelines?
The economic uncertainty spurred by Trump’s tariffs also places a new focus on Canada’s energy policy.
Polyereble, originally from Alberta, the country’s oil capital, has long pushed for deregulation and boosting oil production. On Wednesday, he pledged to surge oil production through more oil pipelines.
Kearney also showed an appetite to promote oil production through the pipeline, but said approval is required from both Quebec and Indigenous groups, as required under the law.
“This is Canada, and that’s how Canada works,” Carney said. Still, he was pushed and said the environment remains a liberal priority.
Bloc Quebecoa leader Blanche has accused both liberal and conservative leaders of ignoring the devastation of climate change.
“The denial of the reality of climate change since the launch of this campaign and the change in Mr. Carney’s mindset that has decided to be more conservative than Mr. Poilierbre is extremely harmful to our environment,” Blanchett said.
How did language rights emerge?
The only candidate on stage who doesn’t have a strong grasp of French, Kearney was able to hold himself up throughout the discussion in general and avoid major fake PAs.
Still, the issue of language rights and preservation was prominently characterized, including the Bill 96 debate, as well as a wiped 2022 reforms to Quebec’s law restricting the use of English in several government services and courts.
The law has been challenged by the province’s non-French-speaking groups and remains a sensitive subject for candidates seeking support in Quebec.
“We will continue to support laws and policies that will allow Quebec and the federal government to protect French throughout Canada,” Poilierble said.
Carney said, “The question is, does Canada have rights and freedoms here? Are we equal?”
“You need to consider the right balance.”
Carney has also pledged that the liberal government will seek a decline in Canadian French-speaking population by increasing the proportion of Francompong immigrants to provinces other than Quebec to 10-12%.
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