Close X
Friday, November 15, 2024
ADVT 
National

Get Ready! Federal Party Leaders Set To Face Off In Debate Tonight

The Canadian Press, 06 Aug, 2015 11:11 AM
    TORONTO — Green party Leader Elizabeth May wants to improve the quality of the conversation at tonight's leaders debate.
     
    May, who has not been invited to participate in a debate since 2008, says she thinks it is especially important to engage Canadians in this election .
     
    She said she is concerned a 11-week "nasty campaign" will turn voters off.
     
    The Green leader has been preparing privately for the event and she says she does not stage mock debates like the other leaders. 
     
    "It may be my experience as a lawyer," May said. "I never practised my arguments before a judge in front of a mirror before going into court ... it is a personal comfort level with knowing my material and then speaking from the heart."
     
    May will join Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau at the two-hour debate organized by Maclean's magazine.
     
    The economy, which has dominated the early days of the election campaign, is expected to be a major topic.
     
    May said she was the only leader in the 2008 debate prepared to say Canada was going into a recession.
     
    She said Harper's economic record has been "pumped and spun by his own spin doctors" but is not very good.
     
    "As a matter of fact, it is one of the worst of any prime minister," May said. "Stephen Harper is supposedly a fiscal Conservative, but he added $150 billion to our federal debt. That is a significant expansion. Now we are at $611 billion national debt."
     
    May said a lot of people focus on the deficit which she said is really " a political problem" as opposed to a fiscal issue.
     
    "Particularly, if our economy is shaky, which it is, I think it is appropriate to run a small deficit," she said.
     
    "Now is not the time for austerity measures and that's exactly the route Stephen Harper has gone."
     
    The debate will also address the environment, energy and foreign policy and security.
     
    The magazine has not released details on the format of the debate, but it is said to include individual question-and-answer periods between the leaders and political editor Paul Wells, as well as free discussion and final statements.
     
    The other party leaders kept a low profile in the run-up to the debate.
     
    Mulcair visited the office of NDP candidate Jennifer Hollett in the Toronto riding of University-Rosedale, saying he's ready for the showdown.
     
    "I am not afraid to stand up to Stephen Harper," Mulcair said. "This is my first debate, I am looking forward to it."
     
    Party insiders say Mulcair, who was praised for his prosecutorial approach in question period during the throes of the Senate scandal, will not try to emulate that style in the debate.
     
    Trudeau allowed to the media to snap his picture as he hit a boxing gym in Toronto this morning.
     
    The Liberal, who famously defeated former Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau in a charity boxing match in 2012, is hoping to showcase his political footwork in the debate.
     
    Conservatives have tried to paint Trudeau as a lightweight and spokesman Kory Teneycke went as far as to say he will exceed expectations "if he comes on stage with his pants on."
     
    "We know that the prime minister will be the focal point of most of the attacks and questions coming from the other party leaders," Teneycke said Tuesday.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Convicted MP Del Mastro In Leg Irons For Jail Transport Standard Procedure: OPP

    Convicted MP Del Mastro In Leg Irons For Jail Transport Standard Procedure: OPP
    The image of Del Mastro, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former parliamentary secretary, shuffling out of the courthouse in Peterborough, Ont., appeared to rattle political observers who seldom witness the gritty day-to-day workings of the criminal justice system.

    Convicted MP Del Mastro In Leg Irons For Jail Transport Standard Procedure: OPP

    John Furlong Portrayed Journalist As Motivated By Contempt For Male Authority: Lawyer

    John Furlong Portrayed Journalist As Motivated By Contempt For Male Authority: Lawyer
    VANCOUVER — A lawyer for a freelance journalist says former Olympics CEO John Furlong portrayed her as a heartless, cruel and callous activist who was motivated by contempt for male authority figures.

    John Furlong Portrayed Journalist As Motivated By Contempt For Male Authority: Lawyer

    CSE Says Edward Snowden Leaks Eroding Spy Agency's Long-term Advantage Over Foes

    CSE Says Edward Snowden Leaks Eroding Spy Agency's Long-term Advantage Over Foes
    In newly released briefing notes, the Communications Security Establishment says Snowden's disclosures about CSE's intelligence capabilities and those of its allies "have a cumulative detrimental effect" on its operations.

    CSE Says Edward Snowden Leaks Eroding Spy Agency's Long-term Advantage Over Foes

    Saskatchewan Intervention Dogs Help Calm And Comfort Victims Of Crime

    Saskatchewan Intervention Dogs Help Calm And Comfort Victims Of Crime
    REGINA — After just three weeks on the job, Saskatchewan's first three certified intervention dogs are already helping victims of crime. Merlot is stationed in Regina, Kane in Moose Jaw and Beaumont in Estevan and Weyburn.

    Saskatchewan Intervention Dogs Help Calm And Comfort Victims Of Crime

    Ultra-Nationalist Regiment In Ukraine Won't Get Canadian Training, Says Kenney

    Ultra-Nationalist Regiment In Ukraine Won't Get Canadian Training, Says Kenney
    KYIV, Ukraine — Defence Minister Jason Kenney says the notorious ultra-nationalist Azov regiment will "absolutely" be excluded from the training Canadian military advisers are about to deliver in Ukraine.

    Ultra-Nationalist Regiment In Ukraine Won't Get Canadian Training, Says Kenney

    Government Protection For B.C.'s Glass Sponge Reefs Not Enough: Group

    Government Protection For B.C.'s Glass Sponge Reefs Not Enough: Group
    VICTORIA — Scientists say the discovery of glass sponge reefs once believed to be extinct in northern British Columbia's Hecate Strait is like finding a herd of dinosaurs roaming on land.

    Government Protection For B.C.'s Glass Sponge Reefs Not Enough: Group