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French-language TVA debate kicks off first face-to-face for federal election

The first leaders’ debate of the 2021 federal election took place this evening in Montreal, as the TVA French-language debate pitted four party chiefs in a face-to-face match in a tightening campaign.
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Federal Liberals leader Justin Trudeau (left), Conservatives leader Erin O'Toole (centre) and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. | Submitted

The first leaders’ debate of the 2021 federal election took place this evening in Montreal, as the TVA French-language debate pitted four party chiefs in a face-to-face match in a tightening campaign.

The debate was fiery at times, and there was a surprising lack of the three opposition leaders – Conservatives’ Erin O’Toole, NDP’s Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Quebecois’ Yves-Francois Blanchet – ganging up on Liberals incumbent Justin Trudeau.

One rare instance where some ganging-up did take place came late in the two-hour proceedings, when Blanchet launched into a criticism of Trudeau’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5 billion – one of the few times the debate centred on Western Canada.

“Mr. Trudeau said he will take the revenue from Trans Mountain to lower [carbon] emissions,” Blanchet said. “It makes no sense.”

Trudeau fired back in saying it is clear that oil and gas is still needed for many years – even despite national campaigns to encourage of uptake of things like electric vehicles. 

“What we propose is that the profit from the pipeline... to be fully invested in the green transition,” Trudeau said, noting also that the First Nations will benefit from the revenue for their own economic development. “We will cap the carbon emissions for oil and gas companies to lower emissions.”

It is at this point where Singh jumped into the fray, targetting Trudeau and accusing the Liberal leader of saying one thing and doing another when it comes to environmental protection. O’Toole, however, took the chance to go after Singh, challenging him on the NDP leader’s opinion of the pipeline.

“Mr. Trudeau had said in the last six years that he wants to stop subsidizing the oil and gas industry, but instead of eliminating [subsities], he increased it by $900million,” Singh said. “... I think [Trans Mountain] is a bad project. It’s a bad decision. We have to invest in jobs for now and the future, in renewable energy and innovation.”

“Against workers in the West,” O’Toole counter. “It’s possible to have an economic relaunch while reducing emissions. It’s possible to reduce it through technology, and we have a plan for that in our platform because we need a strong economy in order to have a government who can fight against climate change.”

O’Toole also confirmed that his government will reduce emissions but provided little details on how. In fact, O’Toole used the phrase “we have a plan” several times without divulging details – including on issues of transferring funds to provinces like Quebec for health care. While O’Toole took the chance to differentiate himself from the Liberals – highlighting Trudeau’s decision last year to send the military to Quebec to help combat COVID – Blanchet targetted the Tories leader in an attempt to differentiate the two right-leaning parties.

“You keep saying that you have a plan,” Blanchet said.

“I will send you my plan,” O’Toole replied.

“You have two hours here [during the debate],” Blanchet fired back.

The debate covered a wide range of issues, with the COVID-19 pandemic response taking up much of the first hour of the debate before the discussion veered towards issues such as the sexual abuse controversy at the top of the Canadian military, medically assisted suicide, the labour shortage, the recent discoveries of unmarked graves at residential schools and firearms regulation. 

Trudeau was under heavy fire from the other three leaders for the Liberals' decision to call an election - deemed unnecessary by not only his opponents but also the TVA moderator at one point - in the midst of the pandemic, with Trudeau firing back that Canada's high vaccination rate means Canadians can safely exercise their democratic right to vote.

O'Toole also faced criticism - especially from Blanchet - for the Tories' campaign promise to fund provincial daycare programs in bilateral deals. The Conservative leader, however, said his party's plan is to get money directly to the families themselves, and it will be up to individuals to decide how to spend the funds in terms of supporting daycare costs.

"I trust the families' own decisions on childcare," O'Toole said.

The most heated exchange may have come between Singh and Blanchet, when the NDP leader repeated the need to look at systematic racism throughout Canadian institutions in light of issues like residential schools and the MeToo movement – a move that Blanchet took as a criticism directed at Quebec and its laws banning the wearing of overt religious symbols like hijabs.

Other interesting tidbits to note:

- Singh promised to limit how much telecoms can charge users for cellphone service.

- O’Toole criticized the Trudeau government’s decision last year to work with a Chinese company on developing a COVID vaccine – a bid that was ultimately unfruitful. It was the only time that foreign-affairs policy was brought up other than a brief foray into discussing Afghanistan in the end.

- Trudeau framed the anti-vax movement as a key part of the Tories’ support group, framing the election as the need to finish the fight against the pandemic correctly. Trudeau also envoked the name of former PM Stephen Harper several times, especially when it comes to climate change action, calling a Tories government “a step backwards.”

The next two debates will be a pair of official events - another French debate on Sept. 8, followed by the English debate on Sept. 9.