The key question in Canada’s election is who is best to deal with Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney has claimed during a French-language leaders’ debate.
His Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre argued that Carney doesn’t represent change after a decade of Liberal Party rule and is just like his predecessor Justin Trudeau.
“Mr Poilievre is not Justin Trudeau. I’m not Justin Trudeau either. In this election, the question is who is going to face Mr Trump,” Carney said.
Trump’s trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state of America have infuriated Canadians, leading to a surge in nationalism that has bolstered Liberal poll numbers ahead of the 28 April vote.
Poilievre is imploring Canadians not to give the Liberals a fourth term.
He had hoped to make the election a referendum on Trudeau, whose popularity had declined at the end of his decade in power after food and housing prices rose sharply and immigration surged.
But Trump instead attacked the former Canadian leader, prompting Trudeau to resign.
The move saw former Bank of England governor Carney become Liberal leader and prime minister after a leadership race.
“One of the differences, there are many, but one of the differences between the two of us is that I put much more emphasis on the economy, on growing the economy,” Carney said when asked about Trudeau after the debate.
“In fact, in this circumstance that we are in, given the scale of the crisis, I would say relentless focus on growing the economy.”
During the debate, Carney reminded the nation that he has only been prime minister for a month.
“We need change. You do not embody change,” Poilievre said to Carney.
Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanche, whose party is losing support to Carney’s Liberals in Quebec, agreed, saying the Liberals are the same party, the same ministers and the same politicians and a new leader does not change that.
But public opinion has changed. In a mid-January poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservatives by 47% to 20%. In the latest Nanos poll released on Wednesday, the Liberals led by eight percentage points.
The French-speaking debate was moved up by two hours to minimise conflict with a Montreal Canadiens ice hockey game as they clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The English language debate is on Thursday evening.
With agencies
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