TORONTO (AP) — The leaders of Canada’s four political parties faced off in the first debate Thursday before a federal election in October, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper fending off attacks in the first three way race in Canadian history.
In the end, the real victor might have been the debate itself, hosted by Maclean’s magazine and ably moderated by political editor Paul Wells, which energized a languid summer campaign and left pundits and observers buzzing.
The experts seem to agree: no clear victor, no knockout punches.
“In the economy section, which was really quite popular, some of the trending questions included – Did Canada have a surplus before Harper? and “Is Canada in a recession?” explains Church”.
Mulcair would raise taxes, indulge in out-of-control spending and introduce permanent budget deficits, Harper claimed.
“The objective in all of these things is to make sure we do maximum damage to Vladimir Putin and to the Russian economy while trying to minimize damages to our own”, Harper said.
Analysts say Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, son of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, needed to have a strong showing or risk falling further behind in the polls.
It has been suggested that this “Netflix Tax” which Mulcair insists he said nothing of the sort (Trudeau has yet to comment, but no doubt will come out with a statement soon) was a last-ditch attempt to appeal to the young voters, and make them feel he is interested in their wants and needs, The Huffington Post reported. “This is about the strength of this province and the strength of this country, and those two fates are intertwined”.
However, he appeared more confident when the debate turned to the Canadian military mission against ISIS.
Mulcair and Trudeau oppose the current bombing missions against Islamic State terrorist targets in Syria and Iraq.
“What I learned from my father is that to lead this country, you need to love this country”, Trudeau said.
“They exclude me from the debate and then talk for 30 minutes about the (referendum) rules they are going to impose on us”.
“Last night’s debate showed the people of Canada and Sault Ste”.
Former colleagues of Harper say his long-term goals are to kill the once widely entrenched notion that the Liberals – the party of long-time leaders Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien – are the natural party of government in Canada, and to redefine what it means to be Canadian.
And it looks like Harper – and therefore Mulcair – won’t show up at the traditional debate organized by major broadcasters.
May is still pushing for inclusion in all planned exchanges.
Whatever impressions Canadians might have had about Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau were thoroughly confounded Thursday in the first televised leaders’ debate of the 2015 election campaign.
