Liberal Leader Mark Carney attempted to fend off attacks from the other party leaders at the English-language debate on April 17, as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tried to link the prime minister to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s nine years in power.
Responding to the debate organizers’ topics, the four party leaders—Carney, Poilievre, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet—talked about how they would respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as well as issues of cost-of-living, housing, energy, and public safety.
At the outset of the debate, Carney said Canada’s relationship with the United States had “fundamentally changed” and the country must therefore diversify its trade while keeping in place counter-tariffs on the U.S. that have “maximum impact.”
Poilievre argued that the Liberal government has weakened Canada’s economy through anti-energy laws, red tape, and high taxes. He pledged to undo those policies “so we stand up to President Trump from a position of strength.”
The Conservative leader also used the opportunity to shift the debate toward the Liberal government’s Impact Assessment Act, previously known as Bill C-69, which brought in federal environmental and regulatory reviews for major projects such as pipelines.
“How could you possibly think it’s a good idea to give the Americans a continued monopoly on our energy projects, when you have seen how much these Liberal policies have weakened our country over the last decade?” Poilievre asked Carney.
Carney responded that he wants to build energy infrastructure such as pipelines and carbon capture storage, and that in cooperation with the premiers and First Nations, he will build energy corridors to streamline energy and other projects. He added that removing interprovincial trade barriers will be a priority.
“We’ve already moved, in the first month, cooperation agreements with the provinces,” Carney said. “Guess what? We are a federation. You need to cooperate with Quebec. You need to cooperate with the provinces. You need to get First Nations and indigenous people buy-in.”
Poilievre called Carney’s response a “total contradiction,” arguing that the Impact Assessment Act makes it more difficult to build pipelines.
Carney countered that he is implementing a “one project, one review” measure with the provinces to replace redundancies in regulatory reviews.
Singh said Trump’s tariffs on Canada “felt like a betrayal,” and the country needs to be less dependent on the United States. He also took the opportunity to criticize Carney for giving a “tax cut to millionaires” by eliminating the capital gains tax increase, while not increasing Employment Insurance benefits that workers receive.
Blanchet also took aim at Carney and criticized him for “saying one thing in French and another one in English.” He accused Carney of advocating while in British Columbia for the use of emergency powers to develop oil and gas projects that would cross Quebec, and then changing that position more recently when talking to media in Quebec.
Housing and Cost of Living
With the debate shifting to the subject of housing, Carney said he and Poilievre were in agreement on getting rid of the federal sales tax on new homes. But Carney said Canada needs a “fundamentally different approach” to building housing, which is why he is pushing for an increased supply of pre-fabricated homes.Poilievre said his government would incentivize municipalities to cut construction taxes by $100,000 per home, sell federal land for housing, and train 350,000 young trades workers to build more homes. Poilievre also attempted to connect Carney to the Liberals’ governing record, noting that housing prices had doubled over the last 10 years, “while Justin Trudeau made exactly the same promises that you are now repeating today.”
Carney responded, “I know it may be difficult, Mr. Poilievre, you spent years running against Justin Trudeau and the carbon tax, and they’re both gone,” Carney said.
“But you’re doing a pretty good impersonation of him with the same policies,” Poilievre replied.
Public Safety and Carbon Emissions
During the segment on public safety, Carney defended the Liberal government’s firearms buyback program, which was first launched in 2020 but has been slow to collect the over 2,000 banned firearm models. Carney said aspects of the program had not been “organized properly” and his government would “clear milestones in the short term.”Poilievre accused the Liberals of going after law-abiding gun owners while ignoring the 90 percent of guns used in crime that are smuggled across the Canada-U.S. border. “I want to protect Canadians from criminals. The Liberals want to protect turkey from hunters,” he said. Carney answered that the Liberals “fully support hunting rights of hunters and indigenous Canadians.”
Poilievre was asked about his proposal to invoke the notwithstanding clause to allow judges to impose consecutive life sentences for mass murderers. The Tory leader said he would uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ Section 7 on liberty and security of the person, saying “multiple murderers” are violating that right of Canadians.
Carney said it is a “dangerous slope” for government to override decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. “The issue in using [the clause] by the federal government is not where you start, but where will you stop?”
Singh said his government would increase border security, and accused the previous Conservative government of cutting the number of border guards, which Poilievre denied.
Asked by the moderator about his climate change policies, Poilievre said his plan involves “bringing home jobs while bringing down emissions around the world.” He said that if Canada were to ship natural gas to India, for example, that country’s emissions would be reduced 2.5 billion tons, which is three times Canada’s total emissions.
Carney said Canada must become a low-carbon nation by using carbon capture and storage technologies, while also having a “competitive” oil and gas sector. He said First Nations need to be involved with the process “from the start.”
Foreign Affairs and One-on-One Questions
During a segment unrelated to foreign affairs, Carney said he believes the biggest security threat to Canada is China. In a later segment focused on global issues, he said in addition to China he is concerned about threats from Iran and Russia, as well as the United States, “which is fundamentally changing its security relationships and commercial relationships.”Poilievre was asked by the moderator whether he would increase aid to Ukraine if the United States pulled back. Poilievre answered that he would “continue supporting Ukraine.”
Under his government, he said, Canada would meet its NATO commitment of spending 2 percent of GDP on defence by 2030. He also committed to telling the U.S. during free trade negotiations that Canada’s increase in military spending, long a U.S. priority, would be dependent on the removal of American tariffs on Canada.
Asked about the war in Gaza, Poilievre said, “We must condemn Hamas, and more importantly, the terror sponsors in Tehran.” He called for Palestinians to “have their own lives free from the oppression of Hamas dictators and Iranian intervention.”
Carney said Canada has to continue working with its allies to put “maximum pressure” toward an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, while also securing the return of Israeli hostages and resumption of aid to Palestinians.
Singh went further than the other leaders, calling Israel’s military operation in Gaza “genocide” and criticizing Poilievre for pledging to end foreign aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Some of the agency’s employees were fired after an investigation into whether they took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel.
In the final debate segment, the leaders were permitted to ask a question of another leader and then engage in back-and-forth dialogue.
Carney used the opportunity to question Poilievre about his decision not to receive security clearance. Poilievre responded that getting security clearance would have muzzled him from speaking about foreign interference in Canada.
Poilievre said had he not “made that decision,” he would have been under a gag order preventing him from speaking about Liberal candidate Paul Chiang. The Toronto-area Chiang suggested people claim China’s bounty on a Conservative candidate wanted by Hong Kong authorities. Carney decided to keep Chiang as a candidate until he resigned on his own.
Poilievre said former NDP Leader Tom Mulcair agreed with his decision, while Carney said the other leaders who received security clearance were still able to talk about the issue freely.
Poilievre asked Carney about his time as an economic adviser to Trudeau and whether he would apologize to Canadians for advising that government “print money, which led to the worst inflation prices in a generation.”
Carney responded that he did not provide such economic advice and suggested Poilievre is having difficulty campaigning now that “Justin Trudeau isn’t here.”
Poilievre accused Carney of having “the same policies” as Trudeau.
Post-debate scrums were cancelled after confrontations between some media groups, with Michel Cormier, the executive director of the Leaders’ Debates Commission, telling reporters that the team felt it could not “guarantee a proper environment” for questions.
