Opposition leaders tussled to define themselves as the best challenger to the current prime minister, Conservative leader Stephen Harper, saving most barbs for his policies.
Canada’s four opposition parties—the Liberals, New Democrats, Bloc Quebecois, and Greens—each fall on the left side of the political spectrum while the Conservatives are Canada’s sole major right-wing party. The opposition parties shared criticisms of Harper on the key debate topics: the economy, the environment, healthcare, arts, crime, and the country’s role in Afghanistan.
The leaders were required to debate in both official languages. Wednesday night’s debate was in French, and Thursday’s was in English, the language spoken by the majority of Canadians. Still, that didn’t assure a large audience. Host Steve Pakin even hurried leaders to finish their comments for fear viewers would flip to the Palin-Biden debate.
Harold Chorney, a political economist at Concordia University was disappointed with the party leaders’ response to the downturn in the U.S. economy.
