GETTING THE MESSAGE OUT
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s podium lies empty for the Maclean’s/ Citytv debate as Green Leader Elizabeth May, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh participate in the first debate of the federal election campaign in Toronto on Thursday.
OTTAWA• Opposition leaders attacked Justin Trudeau’ s economic record Thursday during the first debate of the federal election campaign — with the Liberal leader deciding not to be there to defend himself.
Trudeau gave the Maclean’s/Citytv debate a pass, preferring to spend his time at a rally in Edmonton.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer lambasted Trudeau for running up massive deficits, with no end in sight, despite promising in 2015 that he would return the federal budget to balance after a few years of modest red ink.
If re-elected, Scheer warned, a Liberal government will raise taxes to pay off the accumulating debt. He promised that a Conservative government would “live within its means” and return to budgetary balance within five years.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Leader Elizabeth May attacked Trudeau from a different angle: for not doing enough to tax the wealthiest individuals and corporations.
The opposition leaders also turned on one another at various points, with the sharpest exchanges coming between Singh and May, whose parties are locked in a fight for distant third place, according to recent public opinion polls.
Singh said New Democrats and Greens have a lot in common but outlined four areas of disagreement. Unlike the Greens, he said the NDP unequivocally supports a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion, has a “solid” position on national unity, believes workers can’t be left behind and would never prop up a minority Conservative government led by Scheer — seizing on issues where the Green position has been somewhat murky. “Excuse me, those were absurd statements,” May retorted.
And both Singh and May went after Scheer over Conservative senators’ blocking a bill that would have ensured Canadian laws conform to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. It stalled in the Senate and died with the election call.
However, Trudeau was the opposition leaders’ primary target. Debate on Indigenous issues veered into the SNCLavalin affair, with Scheer taking the opportunity to remind viewers that Trudeau is the only prime minister to have been found to have broken ethics law and accusing him of trying to obstruct justice.
Even before they took to the stage, with its empty spot for Trudeau, opposition leaders were accusing the Liberal leader of dodging the debate because he’s afraid to run on his record.
Earlier in the day, Trudeau stuck by his decision to participate only in two official debates next month and a third in French hosted by TVA.