Commentary
In a poll showing such close competition in federal elections, both Outur and Trudeau were surprisingly suppressed in the second French election debate. Neither leader abandoned the new policy stance, and they stuck to their point fairly closely. They were more interested in staying safe than trying to record some kind of knockout hit in the hope of moving the support needle.
The debate format was interesting. It was severely relaxed and there was a direct conversation between leaders, but it tended to be short and controlled. Some questions were raised by guests and others were raised by moderators. Many were pretty hard. Various themes were taken up. This is in contrast to the English debate, which is limited to only five subjects.
The first subject was whether Justin Trudeau promised a four-year term, even if he beat the minority. This is a thorny issue for Trudeau, as many have questioned his call for early elections. Trudeau did not answer the question directly. All other leaders talked about the need to work together to ensure that the minority government lasts as long as it needs to. During the rest of the debate, these leaders repeatedly shot Trudeau because he called for an early election.
On the issue of essential vaccines, Eve Francois Blanche, Jagmeet Singh and Justin Trudeau are all supportive and slightly in terms of how much pressure people have to put to get compliance. It was different. Both Erin O’Toole and Anamy Paul wanted to encourage people to vaccinate, but emphasized avoiding the fully mandated demand for vaccines.
Autour and Blanche have found some surprising common grounds in seeking reductions or suspensions of CRB benefits to address the labor crisis. The rest of the leaders wanted Paul to maintain or further increase his CRB benefits by demanding a permanent basic income program.
One of the more interesting parts of the debate was when individual leaders were asked direct questions about subjects they would rather have avoided.
Blanche was put in place when asked if the indigenous language was recognized as the official language of Canada. As the leader of the block, Blanche cannot support any language other than French. Blanchett, who usually composes, was clearly in a hurry as he tried to talk about the issue without insulting indigenous supporters.
Paul was asked about the division with his party on the issue of Israel. It was cut deep because her party is in a state of internal turmoil. Paul would only say that she recognizes international law.
Outur was repeatedly asked about his position on the law banning numerous firearms. Outur said he would keep it in place and review things.
Trudeau was asked about failing to deliver clean water to the indigenous reserves. He said his government is making progress and is still working on it.
Shin was asked about the cost of his platform because spending promises are unrealistic. He sought to assure people that he would be able to tax the super-rich enough to fund his promise.
Some real sparks flew when Blanche hinted that Trudeau wasn’t a real Quebec and couldn’t speak for the state. Trudeau was clearly upset and restless, shouting that he was a Quebec inhabitant. That anger was carried over to a post-discussion press conference when the subject emerged. This is clearly a sensitive place for Trudeau, and Blanche could twist the knife again in Trudeau.
Annamie Paul was clearly the loser, although there may not have been a clear winner in the discussion. She was drifting because there was no platform or support from her own party, which was shown in the discussion. She often stuck to issues about issues that were weak and demanded longer answers.
Since it is a French discussion, the discourse naturally revolved around Quebec. Blanchett has always pointed out that the federal government has no jurisdiction over most of Quebec’s issues and does not keep Quebec’s first attitude secret. Other leaders had more subtle nuances, but when they came to Quebec in this debate, they were careful not to step on the rights of the state. That attitude may change during the English debate on September 9.
Justin Trudeau set aside mentioning abortion and Stephen Harper at the end of the debate. It was a sad attempt to spotlight the problem. I can only speculate that he was instructed to bring out those things but had no chance, so at the end of the discussion he simply decided to throw them away without context.
The second French debate was a well-managed and solid case. Unfortunately, questions were often more interesting than answers. Hopefully, the final debate in the election will give you better candid insights into where the leaders of the major parties are at stake as the campaign reaches its final stage.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Cory Morgan is a columnist and business owner based in Calgary, Alberta.