Fractious debate sees leaders trade blows over climate change, pandemic recovery and cost of living

The five main party leaders met for the first and only English debate of this election campaign Thursday night and clashedover the country's most pressing problems, fromclimate change and the pandemiccrisisto fractious foreign relations.

From the opening bell, Trudeau faced an onslaught of attacks from his opponents over the fall of Kabul, the imprisonment of two Canadians in China and hisdecision to call a snap election during a pandemic.Trudeau sometimes struggled to respond to the attacksduring an oftenchaotic campaignevent with a rigid format that featured few opportunities for one-on-one exchanges.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Annamie Paul tried to brand Trudeau as a failed prime minister who has long promised transformative progressive change but has failed to deliver. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole, who faced comparatively few jabs throughout the matchup, positioned himself as a more moderate choice than his predecessors in a pitch todisaffected Liberal voters.

Bloc QubcoisLeader Yves-Franois Blanchetstruggled to compete in his second language and bristled at questions from the moderator,Shachi Kurl,that suggested some of Quebec's policies like Bill 21, which restricts religious garb at work are discriminatory and xenophobic.

Trudeau, meanwhile, asked voters to return his party to government to finish the fight against COVID-19, saying his party has released a viable plan for a post-pandemic Canada.

With the polls suggesting the race for first place is a virtual dead heat less than two weeks out from electionday, Trudeau andO'Toole set theirsights on each other early in the debate.

Climate and emissions targets

Trudeau tried to paint O'Toole as a climate laggard. Pointing to a positive review from a prominent climate analyst, Trudeau said the Liberal climate plan is the least costly and the most effective strategyon offer to drive Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. He dismissedO'Toole's promised green policies as "weak."

O'Toole hassaid that, if he's elected, he will push the reset button on Canada's climate plan, returning to the previous national target of reducing emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Trudeau said O'Toole threatens to drag Canada back to "the Harper years," when former prime minister Stephen Harper committed to less ambitious environmental action.

"We have to win back trust on this issue we haven't met the expectations of Canadians on climate change," O'Toole said. Hedefended his lower target,saying his plan is actually doable and would nottank Canada's resource-rich economy.

"Mr. O'Toole can't even convince his party that climate change is real because they voted against that," Trudeau said, referring toa failed Conservative party convention motion to declare that"climate change is real."

O'Toole hit back, saying the Liberal leader talks a big game on climatebut hasfailed to put a dent in Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

Watch:Blanchet, Singh, O'Toole spar over pipelines:

Blanchet, Singh, O'Toole spar over pipelines

3 years ago

Duration 3:09

During the English leaders' debate, Bloc Qubcois Leader Yves-Franois Blanchet, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole discussed their views on how to transition Canada to a green economy.

"Mr. Trudeau always forgets one thing he has never made a target for climate change. He has great ambition,that's part of the reason we're in an election in a pandemic is his ambition,but he doesn't have achievement," O'Toole said.

Singh also piled on."Justin Trudeau has failed all of us," he said. "You had six years and you've got the worst track record in the G7 after six years.

"Let's talk about the cost the cost of inaction is the entire town of Lytton being wiped out by a climate forest fire."

Trudeau said he wouldn't take lessons from Singh on climate, pointing to poor grades independent experts have given the NDP's climate plan. "How is it that the experts rated our plan an A and rated your plan to be an F?" Trudeau said.

According to the latest report from Environment and Climate Change Canada, the country's emissions haveticked up on Trudeau's watch.

In 2019 the first year of the federal carbon pricing system, commonly called the "carbon tax"Canada produced 730 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, an increase of one megatonne or 0.2 per cent over 2018.

However, the economy grew faster than emissions did in 2019 which means the country's "emissions intensity" is lower than it has been in the past.

The 730 megatonnes of emissions recorded in 2019 isslightly higher than the 723 megatonnes Canada churned out in 2015, the year Trudeau first took office.

Watch:Trudeau, O'Toole debate climate change

Trudeau, O'Toole debate climate change

3 years ago

Duration 2:11

During the English leaders' debate, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Conservative Party Leader Erin O'Toole respond to the question about how one in four Canadians do not believe climate change is caused by human activity.

Paul said Canada could become a renewable energy superpower, and the leadersneed to form an "all-party cabinet"to combat the shared threat of climate change. "This isa global issue, this is a national issue, this is a non-partisan issue. And we have got to be able to come together across party lines," she said.

The cost of living and housing

The leaders also debated the issue of affordability. O'Toole blasted Trudeau over the spikein inflation in recent months with the value of the dollardropping and the price of some everyday goods rising thanks in part to government largesse and a strengthening economy.

O'Toole touted some of the more populist measures tucked into his 160-page election platform, like a GST holiday in December and a month-long discountat restaurants measures meant to stimulate the bricks-and-mortar economy, whichhas been hard hit by public health measures like lockdowns.

Canada's housing stock is among the priciest in the world, with the average price of a single family home costing well over $1 million in the Toronto and Vancouver urban areas.According to the Canadian Real Estate Association's MLS system, the average price of a home in Canada is $716,000, an eye-popping figure that means property ownership is a distantdream for many.

"There's a housing crisis and Mr. Trudeau is making it worse," O'Toole said. To address this, the Conservativehousing plancommits to building one million new homes over three years while easing mortgage requirements and making more federal land available for development.

WATCH: The party leaders debate housing affordability

Federal party leaders debate housing affordability

3 years ago

Duration 2:22

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh spoke with the CBC's Rosemary Barton during the leaders debate.

Trudeau said the Conservatives' housing plan would give tax breaks to thewealthya reference to O'Toole's platform commitment to create incentives for Canadians who invest in rental housing by making tweaks to the capital gains tax regime.

The Conservatives maintain the housing "crisis"is driven by a shortageof supply and say programs that encourage people and companies to build more rental units will help to alleviate the problem.

Vaccine mandates

Trudeau, who is in the fight of his political life after six years in office, presented himself as a vaccine champion a leader determined to boost vaccination rates to avoid the worst effects of the delta variant.

At a time when experts say vaccine coverage needs to be even higher than it is now, Trudeau said he wouldcreate a billion-dollar fund to help provinces pay for vaccine passports.

He criticized O'Toole'sresistanceto the idea of avaccine mandate for federal public servants and the travelling public, saying O'Toole's preference for rapid tests over mandatory shots punishes the 85 per cent of Canadians who've had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

"We've shown unequivocal leadership on getting everyone vaccinated. Unfortunately, Mr. O'Toole can't even convince his own candidates to get vaccinated," Trudeau said.

O'Toole said if Trudeau was so concerned about ending this pandemic and boosting vaccination rates he wouldn't have plunged the country into an election campaign during a fourth wave of the pandemic.

Paul, who has grappled with internal party issues for much of the summer, is also opposed to mandatory vaccines.

"This is another case where policy gets put aside for partisan advantage. We need to encourage people to get vaccinated vaccines save lives but there are people who can't get vaccinated and we need to reasonably accommodatethem," she said.

O'Toole's signature platform item and by far the most costly item he has proposed is a $60 billion cash injection into the Canada Health Transfer, a financial commitment that wouldhelp provinces and territories spend more on a system that is battered and bruised after a 19-monthlong health crisis.

The promised financial boost, which would comewith no strings attached, has been welcomed by premiers like Quebec's Franois Legault who are reluctantto see Ottawa impose conditions in an area of provincial jurisdiction.

But Trudeau panned the Conservative promise, saying too much of the money is backloaded to the last five years of the 10-year plan. The Liberal plan, by comparison, promises $25 billion on a faster timeline.

Singh, who is contesting his second federal election, has promised to make the "ultra rich" pay more in taxes to fund a host of new social programs like universal pharmacare.

Indigenous reconciliation

Indigenous reconciliation was anothertopic of the debate. Since the Tk'emlps te Secwpemc First Nation reportedthis summer that as many as 215 children could be buried at a former residential school site, the issue of Crown-Indigenous relations has been at the forefront of the national conversation.

Singh clashed with Trudeau on the issue, saying the Liberal leader has allowed longstanding issues to fester.

"The calls to justice are out there and you haven't acted," Singh said of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry (MMIWG)'s findings.

"You can't take a knee one day when you're going to take Indigenous kids to court the next," Singhadded, citingongoing litigation over funding for First Nations social services a claim Trudeau batted away as an oversimplification of a complex legal matter.

Watch: Singh says Trudeau has not acted on Indigenous calls to justice.

Singh says Trudeau has not acted on Indigenous calls to justice

3 years ago

Duration 1:13

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh accuses Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau of saying one thing but doing another when it comes to compensation for Indigenous kids.

"The cynicism that Mr. Singh is showing by saying that we did nothing is harming reconciliation and the path that we're moving forward on," Trudeau said.

Trudeau said there's no doubt "Canada has failed" Indigenous peoples after centuries of abusive colonial policies but he said there has been meaningful progress in recent years. Trudeau said he hasmade Indigenous issues a priority while in government, flowing billions in new funding toend drinking water advisories, repair First Nations schools, set up a newIndigenous-led child welfare systemandrevive Indigenous languages, among other commitments.

The election campaign isentering its final stretch. Advance polls opentomorrow and election day isSept. 20.

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier was not invited to participate because the commission determined that his party did not have the required level of voter support four per cent five days after the date of the election call. Recent polling figures suggest the PPC has since overtaken the Greens in national support.

Watch: Trudeau, Paulhave heated exchange over feminism and leadership:

Liberal and Green leaders have heated exchange over feminism and leadership

3 years ago

Duration 2:12

Justin Trudeau and Annamie Paul had the first exchange in the English leaders' debate, hosted by Shachi Kurl of the Angus Reid Institute.