The good, the bad and the awkward moments from the national leaders’ debate

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/09/2015 (3686 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper

Strongest moment: During a particularly heated and difficult to watch exchange between NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, Harper stood back and just watched them go at each other. Then when they were done, he stepped up in a calm, measured voice and came across as the voice of reason in a room full of pettiness.

Most awkward moment: In the discussion about immigration and refugees, Harper said offering refugees better health care than most Canadians receive “is not something that most new and existing and old stock Canadians agree with.” It set Twitter off in a tizzy, and a lot of people want to know exactly what he meant by Old Stock Canadians.

Best jab: “We are the only party not talking about raising any of your taxes.” It is one of the clearly true statements Harper made in an evening when he and the other leaders did their best to obscure the facts with partisan spin doctoring.

Weakest moment: On refugees and immigration, Trudeau looked at Harper and said refugees are people who fight “tyrants and terrorists” and escape with their families, looking for a better life. “They cross the oceans and they make it to Canada and what does Mr. Harper do? He takes away their health care.”

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair

Strongest moment: Early in the debate, Mulcair deftly reflected criticism of his plan to raise the corporate tax rate by two points, by pointing out Harper has cut it. “If that was such a good idea, why did we lose 400,000 good manufacturing jobs.”

Most awkward moment: Mulcair continually referenced provincial NDP governments for having the best fiscal record of any party’s premiers. And at one point he said “balancing the budget is in our DNA.” And Harper pretty much laughed at him as any Manitoban watching went “um, what?” Mulcair can point to many times the NDP balanced the budget at the provincial level, but his opponents just have to look at the most recent example of a provincial NDP government in Manitoba. Yes the NDP balanced the budget in Manitoba between 1999 and 2009. But the government hasn’t balanced the budget since 2009, doesn’t expect to until at least 2018, and broke a 2011 re-election pledge to balance the budget by 2013.

Best jab: “Mr. Harper put all of his eggs into one basket and then he dropped the basket,” Mulcair said, criticizing Harper for failing to invest in a diverse range of industries.

Weakest moment: Mulcair allowed himself to be sucked into heated exchanges with Justin Trudeau a few times, and in one exchange, when Trudeau accused Mulcair of advocating for bulk water exports when he was environment minister in Quebec, Trudeau told him to “look at his record” to which Mulcair snarkily and somewhat childishly said “No you look at the record.”

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau

Strongest moment: “I am looking straight at Canadians and being honest.” He said it defending his plans to run deficits and this plays into what several have said that smaller deficits don’t bother them too much and that at least Trudeau is being honest about not being able to balance the budget. He came across as sincere and it was one of the calmest moments of the night for Trudeau.

Most awkward moment: “Mr. Mulcair talks about all the right things but he isn’t going to be able to do them.”

The comment seemed like a tacit endorsement of the NDP plan, raising the question whether the NDP plan would be endorsed by the Liberals as long as the NDP say they’ll run a deficit to do it.

Best jab: “Mr. Harper you have run deficits in good years. You have run deficits in bad years. The only time you’ve said you are not going to run deficits is in election years.”

Weakest moment: Trudeau claimed the Liberals were the first party to release a fully-costed fiscal framework for the platform. Which nobody else has seen. The party later pointed reporters to the details of Trudeau’s announcements on the website but that is not a fully-costed fiscal framework that lays out where all the spending is going, and how it will all add up to whatever deficit he expects to run.