Bloc Quebecois leader accuses Carney of copying conservative policies

Bloc Quebecois leader, Yves-Francoise Blanchet accused Carney of “hiding from the media”, and “copying conservative policies”, in a speech that followed Carney’s decision to skip the TVA debate.

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At a press conference earlier yesterday, Bloc Quebecois leader, Yves-Francoise Blanchet accused Carney of “hiding from the media”, and “copying conservative policies”, in a speech that followed Carney’s decision to skip the French TVA debate.

The TVA debate is the unique French debate that usually happens prior to the official debates, exclusively meant to challenge the Federal leaders earlier in the campaign, in what is most often their second language.

This year, in unprecedented fashion, TVA demanded a $75,000 fee from every candidate, in order to participate in the debate, likely linked to their financial struggles like other mainstream media outlets in Canada.

Conservative leader Piere Poilieve and Bloc leader Blanchet both accepted their invitation to the TVA debate.

Carney was questioned about his intentions to attend this debate previously, where he told the media in French; “why not” on March 24th, later that day his campaign reversed course and confirmed to mainstream media outlets that he wouldn’t be participating.

Once Carney backed out, TVA cancelled the debate entirely, the next debates are the official debates set for April 16 (English) and April 17 (French), both set to take place in Montreal.

Blanchet said, “The guy who wants to be the boss of Quebec, like the other candidates has to come to Quebec, answer questions which are not necessarily easy questions, but someone who wants to have an easy way, he will stay home”.

He continued by saying, “Someone who is a candidate can answer tough questions from the media, and not just copy the conservative policies, and try to hide”.

Carney was previously challenged by Poilievre to attend the TVA debate, even offering to pay the $75,000 fee, however, Carney backed away from the event.

Since his decision to skip the debate, Juno News polling appears to show a decrease in support in Quebec, mostly falling back into the hands of the separatist Bloc Quebecois party.

Recently the Bloc leader himself was slammed by consumer groups for posting an ad with misleading claims about the benefits of supply management in the diary sector, when in reality the policy causes waste and increased costs for consumers.

Two weeks before Carney asked the governor general to dissolve parliament in order to trigger the election, Blanchet accused the Liberals of using the Trump tariff issue for their own political gain, something that is seeming to work in the early phase of the election thus far.

The bloc struggled in the post Trump inauguration period following a political refocus on Trump and US-Canada trade, especially among seniors.