MONTREAL—Liberal leadership hopefuls sparred in the final debate of the party’s expedited leadership race Tuesday night.
With less than two weeks to go, Donald Trump is still having a big influence on the race, Justin Trudeau barely came up at all and one contender raised her elbows ever so slightly in what had otherwise been a gentile contest.
Donald Trump
He wasn’t on the stage, but he might as well have been given how many times U.S. President Donald Trump came up during the Liberal leadership debate.
“Trump is posing the gravest challenge our country has faced since the Second World War. He’s threatening us with economic warfare,” said former finance minister Chrystia Freeland in her opening statement.
Freeland argued as the person who last negotiated with him, she is best to stand up to him now, while former MP Frank Baylis said he would rely on his business experience to help him negotiate.
Trump’s threatened 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods are currently on hold, but only for another week.
Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney said Canada has to respond to Trump’s threat by building a stronger Canada with fewer internal trade barriers, more productivity and more trading partners internationally.
“We can’t change Donald Trump, but we can control our economic destiny,” he said. “I can bring that change. I know how to manage crises. I know how to build strong economies.”
Former government house leader Karina Gould argued she had a long history of standing up to bullies, including in the House of Commons and she is prepared to do that with Trump.
“I know how to stand up to people who want to take from us what is rightfully ours. We are a proud sovereign country, and as Canadians we have so much to offer.”
Karina Gould’s contrast
In a debate largely among people who agree, Gould found a few ways to draw attacks on her challengers, especially on the perceived frontrunner Mark Carney.
Early in the debate, she pointed out directly that Carney’s plan for defence spending would reach the NATO two per cent target in 2030, behind all of the other challengers in the race.
“We don’t have time to wait for this. We have to actually make sure that we are investing here in Canada, reaching those targets, because our country, our sovereignty, is under threat,” Gould said, speaking directly to Carney.
She criticized all of her colleagues for talking about “households” instead of “families” in a segment on cost of living issues.
Gould is the only Liberal leadership candidate pledging to keep the consumer carbon levy, though she is promising to halt further increases.
She pointed out Carney’s plan to end the carbon tax and replace it with a middle class tax cut would leave people worse off, because they won’t be receiving the rebates that come with the carbon levy.
“The math just doesn’t add up,” she said. “If you are a middle-class individual, that tax cut is looking at about $800 a year. The carbon rebate for a family of four is $1,200 a year.”
She accused all of the other candidates of backing away from the consumer carbon levy, because the politics of it have become difficult.
“We can’t abandon the fight against climate change because Pierre Poilievre is telling us to.”
Canada’s intelligence agency
A U.S. media report suggested Tuesday that Trump administration officials were considering pushing to kick Canada out of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement.
Gould said that should be a wake-up call for Canada to look at boosting our own intelligence agency.
“We have one of the premier cybersecurity institutions through the Communications Security Establishment (CSC) here in Canada, but what we don’t have is our own intelligence agency that can work to collect foreign intelligence,” she said. “Now might be the time that we need to establish those capabilities.”
Canada’s intelligence agency CSIS can collect information overseas, but it is significant limits unlike agencies like the American CIA or the U.K.‘s MI6.
Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade advisor, who was reported to have suggested removing Canada from the intelligence alliance denied the report late on Tuesday, calling it “crazy stuff.”
Gould made the suggestion during a broader discussion on national security. She said Canada can’t depend on the U.S. as it has been before.
“We rely too much on the Americans for intelligence internationally and we need to ensure that Canada has the capacity and the capability to protect ourselves.”
Don’t say Justin Trudeau
Donald Trump, Pierre Poilievre and even former prime ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin came up in this debate long before the current prime minister in the debate meant to define the race to replace him.
Even during a segment talking about Trudeau’s success attracting young people in 2015, who have now moved to Poilievre, only Gould actually mentioned the prime minister’s name.
In a later section where moderator Hannah Thibedeau asked candidates how they would differentiate from Trudeau, Gould and Freeland mentioned the Liberal program, but steered clear of mentioning the prime minister himself.
Freeland said she was more collaborative and less of a one-man band. She said the campaign was her chance to step away from the prime minister.
“For me, this campaign has been a personal liberation and I am my own person and it is great,” she said.
Carney said he would have a “laser focus” on the economy and described himself as much more hands on than the current prime minister.
Baylis emphasized during his only term in office he was not a cabinet minister and was never in Trudeau’s inner circle.
