Debate had plenty of thrust and parry

MONTREAL— Some key exchanges from the French-language leaders’ debate on Friday: NDP Leader Tom Mulcair: “You’ve never met a war you didn’t like. When the only tool is a hammer, all the problems seem like nails. You’ve just said the world is dangerous, but I don’t think by adding more bombs, we’re going to make the world safer.

“When you arrived at power, we were 33rd for peacekeeping, now we’re at 68th place, because you don’t believe in peacekeeping.

“You didn’t lift your little finger to help with the Congo.” Conservative Leader Stephen Harper:

“It’s not realistic to have a peacekeeping mission against the Islamic State . . . we can’t let the Islamic State use the region as a base of attack on us. It’s not reasonable.” Mulcair: “You’re the first prime minister since the Second World War not to have our turn at the Security Council of the United Nations.” Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau: “Mr. Mulcair, you made bad choices. You chose to balance Mr. Harper’s budget at all cost which means you can’t invest right now in the help that Canadians and Quebecers need. We have made another choice — three modest deficits to give help to children and pull 315,000 kids out of poverty. An increase in taxes for the highest wage earners, a cut in taxes for the middle class and to invest $60 billion in our infrastructures across the country because we know in Quebec, it’s badly needed.” Mulcair:

“Mr. Trudeau, in my family, we’ve always said that actions speak louder than words. I’m going to tell you that you’re talking about Harper budgets you supported by voting in favour of, numerous Harper budgets. I can assure you I never voted for one of Mr. Harper’s budgets. You supported him on Bill C-51, the biggest attack on rights and freedoms in Canada since the Liberals imposed the War Measures Act in 1970. You supported him on Keystone, you have the same economic, environmental and social policies as him. We’ve voted against Mr. Harper, we want to defeat him and replace him.” Trudeau:

“Mr. Mulcair, on the issue of the economy, which is of most importance to Canadians, despite the failure of Mr. Harper’s economic policy, you chose to balance his budget which means you can’t invest in families, you can’t lower taxes for those who need it, you don’t have the capacity to give, immediately, help to municipalities and regions that need it. You’ll spend a lot of time trying to change the subject and attack me personally, but you don’t have a plan to invest right now.” Mulcair:

“Mr. Trudeau, no one is attacking you personally, it’s a simple fact, verifiable that you voted in favour of Mr. Harper’s budgets.” Trudeau:

“We are talking about this election.” Harper:

“It’s reasonable to make marijuana illegal. If we sell marijuana in stores like alcohol and tobacco that will protect our kids? No one believes that.” Trudeau:

“The reality is that we have kids who find it easier to buy marijuana than cigarettes and beer. If a young person buys marijuana it’s because he had contact directly with a criminal. We will continue to control marijuana like cigarettes and alcohol, not to sell them in corner stores. It will be harder for them to get access.” Harper:

“Mr. Trudeau, we want to discourage the utilization of marijuana by our kids. And I think it’s important for us as heads of parties to lead as an example on this issue.”