Canadian PM Justin Trudeau slammed as ‘phoney and fraud’ during debate
- Poll show Conservatives have a real chance of defeating the ruling Liberals, whose campaign stumbled last month after images emerged showing Trudeau in blackface
- However, Trudeau has gained some momentum since Scheer stumbled through a French-language debate on private channel TVA last week
Polls show Scheer’s Conservatives have a real chance of defeating the ruling Liberals, whose campaign stumbled last month after images emerged showing Trudeau in blackface. Trudeau has repeatedly apologised for the images.
The two-hour debate – the only one to be held in English, the language spoken by two-thirds of Canada’s 38 million population – has traditionally been regarded as an important way of winning the minds of voters.
Scheer, asked to comment on foreign policy, said Trudeau was only pretending to stand up for Canada and noted the Liberal leader had not at first revealed how many times he had put on dark make-up.
“He can’t even remember how many times he put blackface on, because the fact of the matter is he’s always wearing a mask … he puts on a middle-class mask and then raises taxes on middle-class Canadians,” Scheer said.
“Mr Trudeau, you are a phoney and you are a fraud and you do not deserve to govern this country,” continued Scheer, who is promising to cut taxes and make life more affordable.
The debate grouped Trudeau, Scheer and the leader of four other parties, including Maxime Bernier of the right-wing People’s Party of Canada. Bernier said he would slash immigration if elected.