Poilievre challenges Carney to French TVA debate, offers to cover fee

Pierre Poilievre has thrown down the gauntlet at Liberal Leader Mark Carney, daring him to step onto the stage for a French-language TVA debate—a showdown the Liberals have been avoiding.

Source: CPAC/CPAC

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has thrown down the gauntlet at Liberal Leader Mark Carney, daring him to step onto the stage for a French-language TVA debate.

Carney originally said he would join the TVA debate, then had an apparent change of heart. Liberals cited the steep $75,000 fee charged to each candidate as the reason for not joining the debate.

In a quick rebuttal, Poilievre offered to cover the $75,000 fee required for Carney to participate in the April 1 debate.

“I want to challenge Mark Carney to show up for the debate at TVA in Quebec,” said Poilievre during a press conference in Vaughan, Ont. Tuesday morning.

“He’s running away and hiding because he believes that he’s too weak to defend the lost Liberal decade or explain why he thinks Liberals deserve a fourth term.”

Carney had previously confirmed that he would attend when asked by a Radio-Canada reporter on Monday.

“Why not?” Carney responded in French, making a mocking physical gesture to imply he was not afraid of attending.

“Yes, yes. There will be debates between the leaders and all the leaders. For all the debates you have to have all the leaders,” he said.

However, Carney’s campaign announced he would not be participating in the TVA debate the following day.

While Carney struggled at the French-language debate during the Liberal leadership race last month, the party has alluded to the $75,000 fee as being the reason for his decision to decline the event invitation.

Poilievre was quick to neutralize that issue.

“I’ll even pay Mr. Carney’s fee so that he can show up. We’ll take that excuse away from him. Conservatives will even pay the fee to bring him out if he’s not afraid,” said Poilievre.

“Let’s have a debate in French where we put together the choice – either a fourth Liberal term – after costs and crime have gone up and our economy has gone down under the American thumb – or putting Canada first for a change with a new Conservative government.”

Groupe TVA had requested a $75,000 participation fee from each of the parties to help with production costs for the event.

The media company recently laid off around 500 employees and says it would have to hire freelancers to produce the program as it won’t be taking advertising revenue from the broadcast.

Poilievre said that if Carney’s impetus for opting out is not rooted in the fee but fear, it speaks to a larger issue of how his leadership would stand up against U.S. President Donald Trump.

“By the way, if he is afraid to have the debate, how is going to have the courage to stand up against Donald Trump?” asked Poilievre. “It’s going to take someone who’s strong enough to do that, and if he’s not afraid, he’ll show up to that debate. I’m not afraid and I’m ready to enjoy that debate with him.”

He went on to say that one of the issues he intends to debate will be the “Liberal housing crisis.”

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet has also called out Carney for his refusal to participate in the debate, saying it’s “not the behaviour of somebody which has been well equipped with courage.”

Blanchet claims the intention of Carney’s decision is to “rob the Bloc Quebecois” of giving his party “an important stage” to express its platforms, inviting Carney to “face the music.”

Carney made a number of blunders during the Liberal leadership French-language debate, including a moment where he said “we agree with Hamas” when he presumably meant to say “we agree on Hamas.”

At one point the debate moderator had to clarify for Carney the meaning of “20 seconds” in English after seeing he was confused, despite repeating it several times in French.