Quick Quotes: French-language election debate

By: The Canadian Press Posted: 10:05 PM CDT Thursday, Sep. 2, 2021 Last Modified: 11:25 PM CDT Thursday, Sep. 2, 2021

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MONTREAL - The first leaders' debate of the federal election took place Thursday night, with four party leaders facing off in French on TVA, one of Quebec's most-watched networks.

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MONTREAL - The first leaders' debate of the federal election took place Thursday night, with four party leaders facing off in French on TVA, one of Quebec's most-watched networks.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/09/2021 (1467 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL – The first leaders’ debate of the federal election took place Thursday night, with four party leaders facing off in French on TVA, one of Quebec’s most-watched networks.

Here are some key quotes from Liberals’ Justin Trudeau, the Conservatives’ Erin O’Toole, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh:

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Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau takes part in the first French leaders' debate on Thursday, September 2, 2021 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Martin Chevalier - POOL

“We won’t force anyone, but we will limit the privileges of those who don’t want to be vaccinated without a good medical reason.”

—Trudeau, on mandatory vaccination for adults.

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“I encourage vaccinations, certainly, but we have to have a reasonable accommodation as a country, we have to work together in the fight against COVID-19, not with an election in the midst of a pandemic, with a lot of division on the issues around vaccination.”

— O’Toole on mandatory vaccination for federal workers.

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“You didn’t share your numbers. You didn’t cost your platform. It’s not serious.”

—Trudeau to O’Toole

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“I will be a partner for Quebec … Mr. Trudeau, all the times, is entering into fields of (provincial) responsibility. It’s not an example of partnership, it’s an example of paternalism.”

— O’Toole on health transfers and long-term care

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“With Mr. O’Toole, it’s always vague. If he has a contract for Quebecers he’s going to have to tell us what’s in the contract … because for the moment it’s just repeating the word ‘plan’ over and over with no details.”

— Blanchet on O’Toole’s plan for child care

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“If you were in a majority government, would we be in an election right now?”

— Blanchet to Trudeau

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“I want to correct this problem, I want to help and work with the provinces, but I have a specific plan, not only health transfers, yes, we agree, but we have a specific problem: profits have effectively killed our elders. How can I stand with my arms crossed when I know this? When I speak with people who have lost their family, how can I say there’s nothing to do?”

— Singh on long-term care homes

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“We’re against Quebec bashing, we know that Quebecers, francophones, were faced with systemic discrimination in the past and that it continues. That’s why we defend the French language, we defend the culture of Quebec and we’ll continue to do that.”

— Singh

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“Nearly 80 per cent of Canadians did the right thing and got vaccinated, even twice, and for 20 per cent who are having a fourth wave because they’re not vaccinated, we’re going to stop our democracy?”

—Trudeau on why he called an election during the pandemic

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2021.