Poilievre defends Canada’s priorities, while Carney talks global plans in French Q&A
Federal leaders attempted to woo Francophone voters in a two-hour-long form interview aired on Radio-Canada.
Federal leaders attempted to woo Francophone voters in a two-hour-long form interview aired on Radio-Canada. Although the event was not a debate, the interview tested Liberal Leader Mark Carney, who had previously backed out of engaging in a televised TVA French debate against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
French-speaking Canadians were given deeper insights into the plans of leaders of the top five parties in the upcoming federal election. Each leader was interviewed about their platform during the two-hour Radio-Canada program.
While the panelists said speaking time was based on the number of MPs at the dissolution of Parliament, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke for nearly 40 minutes, compared to Mark Carney’s 30-minute segment.
While Carney spent much of his time discussing issues involving other countries, Poilievre came with a more Canada-focused approach.
Poilievre briefly mentioned his proposed tariff response but focused on building Canada’s economy and military powers to become less reliant on the United States.
The Conservative leader bashed Carney’s recent support of Bill C-69.
“Mr. Carney wants to keep Justin Trudeau’s policies in place. He has the same Liberal ministers, the same Liberal promises. So, it’s going to be the same results” said Poilievre. “Me, I want us to be masters in our own house by approving projects here that will create an economic fortress for Canada and make us strong against Donald Trump.”
Poilievre criticized the CBC hosts for emphasizing the tariff war over domestic crises, including two million Canadians using food banks, unaffordable housing resulting in young Canadians delaying starting families, and a broken immigration system.
He also acknowledged that U.S. President Donald Trump wants Carney as prime minister so that he can take advantage of Canada and its weakness.
“I think the Trump administration is like, a Conservative who’s strong, who’s going to strengthen our economy… It’s the worst thing for them. But it’s the best thing for Canada,” he said.
Poilievre also called for a pipeline to be built across Canada, to reduce reliance on the U.S. and open up opportunities with other international trading partners.
He blasted the Canadian military in its current state, saying that under Trudeau’s watch, it couldn’t even stop a Chinese balloon from infiltrating the country.
Poilievre pledged to cut international funding and foreign aid, arguing the money would be better spent on Canada’s military than on dictators and terrorist-linked groups like UNRWA.
“The Liberals gave $250 million to the dictatorship in Beijing to build Chinese bridges and pipelines and other infrastructure,” said Poilievre. “I want to build infrastructure here in Canada; that’s putting Canada first, after all.”
The Conservative leader also commented on immigration, saying that false asylum seekers have exploded under the Liberals and are contributing to putting enormous pressure on Canada’s housing market, healthcare, and job market.
Meanwhile, Carney focused heavily on the escalating tariff war between Canada and the United States.
He said that despite critics arguing that counter-tariffs might have a greater effect on Canadians than Americans, he designed them to have a maximum effect on the U.S. while having a minimal effect on Canada. When asked whether the tariffs might result in a recession, Carney said he can’t make any guarantees about the economy's future.
Carney also compared Canada’s territorial integrity situation to Ukraine and Gaza.
When asked about how Canadians were boycotting the U.S. by not buying their products, cancelling trips, and booing the national anthem, Carney said he was proud of the reaction.
During the French-language broadcast, Carney rated his French as a six out of ten. If he served a term as prime minister, he pledged to bring that to an eight or nine out of ten.
Despite being on the ballot, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said he doesn’t even want to be the prime minister. He said he only wants a federal government that thinks more of Quebec’s interests. He added that even the French ministers care more about Ontario than Quebec.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was questioned about whether he now feels propping up former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government was a mistake.
He took no blame for Canada’s current debt situation, saying that he asked Trudeau to tax the ultra-rich to offset his government spending.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was not at the discussion; instead, the party’s co-leader, who is a Francophone, Jonathan Pedneault, spoke on the party’s behalf.
The official French leaders’ debate, hosted by Radio-Canada, will take place on April 16th. The federal election will occur on April 28th.
Carney's French is 6 out of 10? Maybe if he spent sometime at a Quebec daycare centre and was trying to convince the kids that the boys were really girls and the girls were really boys it would suffice. BTW, Carney almost had a Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke show) moment as he backed up toward the Radio-Canada entrance and encountered an anti-terrorist block. A Liberal PM who doesn't watch where he's going. I hope we all collectively put an end to that.
Pierre is the better man!