Liberal contenders get a second chance after flat French encounter

Article content

MONTREAL — Liberal leadership hopefuls will face off during a second debate — and the only one in English — on Tuesday night as they try to convince party members that they are best suited to take on both U.S. President Donald Trump and Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.

Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould and Frank Baylis will once again meet at 8 p.m. in a TV studio in Montreal for the second of two debates just two weeks before Liberal members elect the party’s next leader.

Article content

Live video and updates from the first and only Liberal leadership debate in English

The discussion will cover the four same topics that were discussed during the French debate on Monday evening: Canada’s place in the world (and particularly its relationship with the U.S.), the economy, government programs and the environment.

Monday’s French debate featured few sparks and certainly no knockout punches between candidates as different opinions were few and far between during the two-hour affair.

It was also dominated by middling to poor French and talk of U.S. President Donald Trump, with each candidate arguing that they were best candidate to counter his threats against Canada.

Tuesday’s debate is not expected to be much more fiery, though the candidates will surely be more eloquent and comfortable in their English mother tongue.

The candidate who has the most to prove — and the most to lose if he does not have a good showing — is Mark Carney.

The frontrunner in the race had a very difficult showing during Monday’s French debate due to his uncertain command of the language on stage. He struggled to get his points across and spoke laboriously compared to his competitors.

Article content

Conservatives were quick to jump on one particular gaffe, where he mistakenly said Liberals agreed “with Hamas” as opposed to “on Hamas.”

After the debate, Carney was quick to tell reporters that he had misspoken and noted that the first thing he said was that all Israelis held hostage by terrorist group Hamas must be released.

“Mark Carney just said, ‘So we agree with Hamas.’ Isn’t it important for a Prime Minister to be able to clearly communicate that Canada does NOT agree with Hamas? Apparently, Mark Carney can’t,” Quebec Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus wrote on X Monday.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.