What we’re watching for tonight
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet arrive at the first debate of the election campaign.
We’re about to get underway, so here’s what we’ll be keeping an eye on.
Quebec sends thesecond-highest number of MPs to Parliament after Ontario, so it’s critical in determining which party will form the next government and whether it will be a majority or a minority.
Both Carney and Poilievre’s campaigns have spent quite a bit of time in Quebec so far — including this week, ahead of the debates being held in Montreal.
The French-language debate is an opportunity for all invited leaders to address the Quebec population as well as other Canadian French speakers, while challenging each other.
Carney’s French skills have been under scrutiny for much of the campaign. While he’s spoken it in two lengthy interviews on Radio-Canada, Carney has never participated in a televised federal leaders’ debate, let alone in his second language.
Sunday evening, Carney and Poilievre appeared on the ultra-popular talk show Tout le monde en parle. Poilievre faced questions over the perception in Quebec that he is a “mini-Trump” and whether he’s the right person to deal with the U.S. president.
Despite hitting Quebec-related stumbling blocks during the campaign — first for declining TVA’s Face à Face debate, then for fumbling candidate Nathalie Provost’s name and the school where the mass shooting she survived occurred — Carney’s support in the polls still outpaces other parties.
The pressure is on for this debate as that could change based on his performance.
