The second half of Tuesday night’s English-language Liberal leadership debate saw candidates exchange on how they plan to win the country’s youth vote.
Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould and Frank Baylis squared off in the second of two back-to-back debates after Monday’s French-language debate.
Historically, left-leaning parties like the Liberals hold the largest support from young voters in Canada. But a September 2024 poll by Abacus suggested 50 per cent of young voters aged 18 to 29 support Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives and Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada.
At Tuesday’s debate, the Liberal candidates said they need to do more to attract young voters back to the party. The youth vote was a big reason Justin Trudeau won a majority in 2015.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Freeland said the “electric” energy of Trudeau’s 2015 campaign was supercharged by how the party “recognized the pain” of young Canadians. If elected party leader next month, Freeland said she would cap credit card fees, cut taxes on first-time homebuyers — policies that would allow young people to build a “great Canadian life” if they “worked hard.”
“I was a young person in 2015,” said former House speaker Gould, adding the Liberal party cannot re-capture the youth vote by being “Conservative light.” In a press scrum after the debate, Gould said some of her Liberal colleagues — without naming names — were taking “Conservative ideas and putting them in their platform.”
“And you know what, that’s OK if they’re good ideas. But when it comes to stuff they’re putting forward, they’re not going to make a tangible and meaningful difference in the lives of Canadians,” Gould told reporters.
Throughout the night, Gould hit back at candidates who advocated for measures like tax cuts, arguing that young and vulnerable Canadians would benefit more from a boost to the country’s social safety net. She vowed she’d put Canada on the “path to universal basic income” if elected leader.
On making the country more affordable for young Canadians, leadership race frontrunner and former Bank of Canada governor Carney said a new Liberal leader needs to invest more public funds in universities while building new affordable homes.
Businessman and former MP Baylis echoed Carney, saying he was “completely focused on your education.” Baylis said on top of investing in higher education, the country needs to boost social housing and lower the cost of living by addressing Canada’s falling productivity rate. He said he would increase the amount of money that can be invested in a First Home Savings Account (FHSA).
“Start saving,” Baylis said, addressing young voters directly. He vowed that housing costs would lower in the meantime if he were elected party leader and prime minister.
The new leader of the Liberal party will be selected March 9.
