Fractious debate sees federal leaders trade blows over Trump, Trudeau and the cost of living

John Paul Tasker · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 17, 2025 7:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

With polls showing Liberal Leader Mark Carney is the front-runner successful this national election, the different 3 main enactment leaders connected signifier for Thursday's English-language statement spent overmuch of the contention trying to teardrop him down.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took purpose astatine Carney aboriginal connected successful the high-stakes debate, saying his authorities would not beryllium each that antithetic from the 1 led by his unpopular predecessor, erstwhile premier curate Justin Trudeau. He urged voters to marque a change.

"Mark Carney is asking for a fourth Liberal term," Poilievre said. "Are you prepared to elite the aforesaid Liberal ministers, the aforesaid Liberal MPs, the aforesaid Liberal staffers?"

Carney took Poilievre on, saying the Conservative person is trying to overgarment him arsenic Trudeau 2.0 and it's conscionable not existent — helium volition beryllium laser-focused connected the system and producing results connected the issues that substance astir to Canadians aft years of inaction connected immoderate large files.

"You spent years moving against Justin Trudeau and the c taxation and present they're some gone," Carney said. "I'm a precise antithetic idiosyncratic from Justin Trudeau."

Carney said Canada is facing the top situation of our lifetimes with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening the country's system and its precise beingness and helium jumped into politics present due to the fact that helium believes he's champion placed to code what helium called the "Trump crisis" successful this perilous moment.

He said that lone weeks into his tenure arsenic premier minister, helium has already crafted an statement with the provinces to interruption down decades-old interior commercialized barriers that person agelong held backmost home free trade by Canada Day.

He said Canada's retaliatory tariffs are hitting the Americans wherever it hurts and helium is posed to beryllium down with Trump to hash retired a caller bilateral statement aft this election.

"We tin springiness ourselves acold much than Donald Trump tin instrumentality away," Carney said. "The biggest hazard we person to look is Donald Trump. We've got to get that right."

Poilievre zeroed in on pipelines, saying helium volition propulsion done lipid and state improvement to tamp down Canada's dependence connected foreign oil — and springiness Alberta's lipid spot entree to satellite markets.

He said Carney conscionable isn't pro-pipeline capable due to the fact that helium volition support the past Liberal government's biology appraisal process, which is loathed by immoderate parts of the earthy resources sector. He said keeping those regulations "empowers Donald Trump to person a monopoly connected our single-biggest export."

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was chippy passim the debate, often interrupting Poilievre and Carney arsenic they were speaking arsenic helium jockeys to get noticed portion polls amusement enactment for his enactment has cratered.