2019 Federal Election Debate Summary 

On Oct. 7, there was a federal election debate in Gatineau, Quebec. The six main party leaders gathered for the first time during the election to debate, address issues affecting everyday Canadians, and ask questions of each other. The debate was broken into five thematic segments, each individually moderated, and featured with wide-ranging questions relating to a chosen theme. What follows is a brief summary of some of the main talking points. A full transcript of the debate is available here.

What Makes a Good Leader?

Moderator Lisa Laflamme asked People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier whether he had the temperament for leadership. Bernier, who has faced criticism for his xenophobic position on immigration and against the what he refers to as the “cult of diversity,” as well as his denial of a climate emergency, responded by saying, “[this country is diverse] and we must be proud of that. But we don’t need legislation like the multiculturalism act to tell us who we are.” 

New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh reacted by stating that a person with the right temperament for leadership must find ways to unite Canadians, not divide them. Scheer also joined in Singh’s sentiment and said to Bernier, saying, “you can be proud of the things we’ve done and accomplished in the world while at the same time welcoming people from all around the world.” 

Green Party leader Elizabeth May responded to the question by stating that good leadership is all about the service you do for Canadians. 

Polarization of Bill 21 and Immigration 

Moderator Althia Raj asked Singh if he was letting down Canadians by not speaking out publicly against Bill 21 — a law in Quebec that bans wearing religious symbols such as hijabs, kippahs, turbans, and crucifixes for many public service employees. Singh responded that Bill 21 was something that hurts him and that he is determined to build people up.

Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said that most Quebecers support Bill 21 and that Canada should recognize Quebec’s ability to govern themselves without federal intervention. 

Trudeau addressed Singh and asked why he had not followed his lead on the Federal court challenge of the Bill 21. Singh responded and said that living his everyday life is how he showed his aversion to Bill 21: “Let’s be honest for a second here. Every single day of my life is fighting a bill like Bill 21.” 

Blanchet later stated that although he did not agree with Trudeau’s stance of introducing federal court challenges for the Bill, he knew what Trudeau’s intentions were. Blanchet mentioned he could not say the same for Singh and Scheer, as they had provided vague responses to the matter. 

Abortion Access

Briefly, the debate touched on abortion and was pointed towards Scheer, whose platform for handling policy in regards to abortion access was never clear to Canadians. He stated that “the laws of access on this issue have not changed for 30 years under Liberal prime ministers, under Conservative prime ministers, they will not change when I am prime minister.”

Trudeau spoke to his party’s usual talking points, saying “the federal government needs to protect minority rights, needs to protect language rights, needs to protect women’s rights.”

Singh added, “I’m someone that believes in, firmly and unequivocally, the rights of women, the right of women to choose and to build more access to abortion services.” 

Being Prime Minister and Being Ethical

During an open debate segment, Scheer addressed the SNC-Lavalin scandal and boldly asked Trudeau when he decided that the rules did not apply to him.

Trudeau responded, “the role of a prime minister is to stand up for Canadians’ jobs, to stand up for the public interest and that’s what I’ve done and that’s what I will continue to do every single day.”

To this, Scheer said that there was no excuse for a politician like Trudeau to interfere with a federal court and that we should “preserve the independence of our judicial system.”

Indigenous Peoples’ Relationship with Canada

Bernier affirmed that he would explore Indigenous property rights on reserves as a start to repairing their relationship. 

May stated that climate change was the number one issue facing Indigenous peoples and the government would have to start there in order to further their relationship. May added that Trudeau did not have this goal in mind as he “bought a pipeline,” which she says was a step in the wrong direction. 

Singh criticized Trudeau for ordering a Judicial Review for the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling for an awarded compensation to Indigenous children harmed by the reserve welfare system and child and family services. Singh added that Trudeau “wanted to fight hard to keep SNC-Lavalin out of the courts but he’s going to drag Indigenous kids to court.” However, Singh did not add the NDP’s stance during his critique of Trudeau. 

Scheer had supported Trudeau in his ordering and said, “[it is] a very large, significant settlement amount and I believe that when you’re dealing with these types of important public policy issues, that it is legitimate to say that it should be reviewed.”

Climate

Trudeau mentioned that his government had put price on pollution and implemented a plan to get Canadians to reduce emissions as agreed to in the Paris Agreement on climate change. He claimed that under his leadership Canada is “three-quarters of the way to reaching those 2030 targets,” though, according to CBC fact-checkers, this claim is misleading.

Scheer reacted by bringing up Trudeau’s use of two campaign planes, claiming that they were purchased through carbon offsets. Scheer also added that although Trudeau’s plan was to reduce emissions, he did so by giving large producers of carbon emissions breaks while everyday Canadians had to “pay the full brunt” of the carbon tax. 

May, who discussed climate throughout the debate and continued to frame the climate crisis as the most pressing issue facing Canadians, was critical of Trudeau’s “purchase” of the Trans Mountain pipeline, saying “You can’t be a climate leader and spend ten to $13 billion more on a project that by itself blows through our carbon budget.”

Bernier did not speak much during this part of the debate. He did however, find fault with Trudeau and May’s stances on climate change. He stated very firmly and confidently “there is no climate emergency”. The People’s Party has yet to offer any policies in relation to climate change.

A full transcript of the debate is available here.