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‘You don’t lob tomatoes across the Pacific’: Justin Trudeau at pre-poll debate
With the September 20 snap polls round the corner, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau adopted an aggressive posture at a highly combative televised pre-election debate on Thursday, sparring with rivals Erin O’Toole and Jagmeet Singh
With the September 20 snap polls round the corner, and with surveys projecting dim prospects for Justin Trudeau, the incumbent Canadian prime minister adopted an aggressive posture at an official English language pre-election debate on Thursday.
“You do not simply lob tomatoes across the Pacific,” PM Trudeau retorted when his rivals on stage charged him with going soft on China; and he spelt out an “F” grade on climate change policy for one of his opponents, Jagmeet Singh of National Democratic Party (NDP).
Justin Trudeau, nevertheless, drew criticism on several fronts from his four rivals at the debate – PM hopeful and main contender Erin O’Toole of the Conservatives, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, Annamie Paul of the Green Party, and Yves-Francois Blanchet of the Bloc Quebecois.
The highly combative debate, which was televised, was moderated by Indo-Canadian Shachi Kurl.
The PM had himself triggered the snap election call in mid-August in a bid to turn the Liberal Party’s minority government into a majority one.
But with the Liberal Party leader drawing flak on multiple issues - from calling elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic, to Canada’s handling of airlift operations in Afghanistan, to China policy - pre-poll surveys show he’s trailing Erin O’Toole.
While elected with a majority in 2015, Trudeau’s Liberals are projected to capture fewer seats in parliament this time round than it did in 2019, when it had secured 157.
At the debate, Justin Trudeau’s attacks on Jagmeet Singh were frequent, with the PM slamming the NDP leader’s climate change policy. He warned progressives that the NDP was open to supporting the Conservatives in case another minority scenario arises.
The continued detention in China of two Canadian nationals, Michael Korvig and Michael Spavor, came up as an issue early into the debate, with Trudeau assuring that his government had been “moving forward on challenging China” and “holding them to account on rule of law”.
Accused of not adequately supporting Canadian citizens in Hong Kong impacted by a new security law imposed by Beijing, and also for not attending a vote in the House of Commons on terming China’s action in Xinjiang as “genocide”, PM Trudeau’s candid response was: “You do not simply lob tomatoes across the Pacific”.
The prime minister’s attacks on Singh in particular were significant because the NDP is projected to be polling over 20% of the vote, and that large share is a barrier to the Liberal Party emerging with a majority.
The NDP is estimated to be on track to gain at least 10-15 seats in the election, directly denting the numbers of the ruling Liberals.
Trudeau’s Liberals are seen to have been trying out negative tactics in the build-up to the polls as it trails the Conservatives, such as running advertisements targeting Conservative leader Erin O’Toole on gun control, abortion and Covid-19 vaccinations.
Trudeau, however, eventually bore the brunt of much of the attacks at the debate, including from Green Party’s Annamie Paul, the only woman and leader of Black heritage on the stage.
