Canada election debate: Carney says China is the ‘biggest security threat’ facing his country

Analysts and pollsters have pointed out that fear of Trump has buoyed the ruling Liberal party and put its support at over 40% and in territory to gain a potential majority in the House of Commons

Toronto: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney referred to China as the “biggest threat” facing his country in terms of security.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (left) and Liberal Leader Mark Carney participate in the English-language federal leaders’ debate in Montreal, Canada, on Thursday. (REUTERS)

He made that statement unprompted during the course of the English-language debate in Montreal on Thursday evening. “I think the biggest security threat to Canada is China,” he said.

Carney and the ruling Liberal Party have benefited from the threats made by US President Donald Trump since November and it was no surprise that the Prime Minister kept referring to that. He said the relationship with the United States had “fundamentally changed” and dealing effectively with Washington “has to be from a position of strength”.

Analysts and pollsters have pointed out that fear of Trump has buoyed the ruling party and put its support at over 40% and in territory to gain a potential majority in the House of Commons.

Similarly cost-of-living issues have been driving backing for the opposition Conservatives and obviously its leader Pierre Poilievre repeated how matters had reached a crisis level after 10 years of Liberal governance. He stressed that voters had the opportunity to prevent a “fourth Liberal term”. In fact, he referred to policies under the tenure of Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau, the last months of which witnessed high levels of unpopularity of the party as the Conservative grabbed a lead of nearly 20%.

While the issue of foreign interference has often been featured in Canadian media and was the focus of a commission’s report in late January, it did not play a significant part in the debate and was not among the topics. India, in fact, was only mentioned, as it had been on Wednesday during the French-language debate, in the context of LNG exports, by Poilievre.

The last official debate took place a day prior to the beginning of early voting on Friday. The Federal election is just ten days away, on April 28.