Federal leaders' debate: Carney, Poilievre and others square off in English at 7 p.m.

MONTREAL — Liberal Leader Mark Carney attempted to remain above the fray in the face of a French debate pile-on by his three main political rivals Wednesday evening, returning over and over to his main pitch to voters, that he’s the leader to confront Donald Trump in a time of crisis.

Carney and his closest opponent, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, tried to adopt prime ministerial detachment while New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet aggressively grilled the Liberal leader on issues ranging from the war in Gaza to an alleged bias in favour of Ontario and a failure to hike jobless benefits.

Poilievre attacked Carney, early on and often, as Justin Trudeau’s former adviser, saying he was part of the “lost decade” that has left Canada too weak to confront Trump. When Poilievre went after Carney for the housing crisis that occurred on the Liberals’ watch, Carney said, “I was the governor of the Bank of England then.”

“Yes,” retorted Poilievre, “and you inflated the cost of housing there, too.”

“You are just like Justin Trudeau. You are exactly the same,” Poilievre said moments later, “and we need a change.”

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Liberal Leader Mark Carney walked away unscathed from his first faceoff with his opponents during the French-language leaders’ debate Wednesday in Montreal.

Carney, who has a huge lead in public opinion polls in Quebec, had the most to lose. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet are all nipping at his support, notably in Quebec where their path to growth rests with taking him down a few pegs. But none succeeded last night.

While Poilievre tried his best to tie Carney to former Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau’s record, accusing him of sharing the same policies and calling for change, Carney was ready with his answers. “I just got here,” he told viewers watching at home. “Mr. Poilievre is not Justin Trudeau, nor am I. This election, the question [is] who will succeed? And who will face Mr. Trump?”

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OTTAWA—Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault was excluded from the federal leaders’ debate Wednesday evening, a decision he called “unjust,” “baseless” and “undemocratic,” but his party did not challenge the ruling in court.

The national leaders’ debate commission issued a decision Wednesday, excluding the Greens from both the French- and English-language debates.

“The commission concludes that the inclusion of the leader of the Green Party of Canada in these circumstances would undermine the integrity of the debates and the interests of the voting public,” the commission said in a statement released early Wednesday morning.

Pedneault said the debate commission’s decision was unfair.

“Let me be clear, their last-minute decision to exclude the Green Party of Canada from the leaders’ debate is not only unjust and baseless, because we met the criteria, it is undemocratic,” he said. “Somehow, they decided that what matters most here isn’t a fair debate. It’s a debate — the one that they’re trying to create — that protects the status quo.”

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