Canada election 2021: PM Justin Trudeau on defensive in first debate
- Canada’s prime minister criticised for calling election amid coronavirus fourth wave
- Justin Trudeau faces a tough re-election battle against Conservative Party rival
Trudeau and the leaders of three other parties took part in a sometimes heated two-hour French language debate, often speaking over each other. But unlike previous encounters, none of the four appeared to land a knockout blow.
Trudeau triggered the vote last month just two years into a four-year mandate, saying Canadians needed to decide whether the Liberal government was right to spend billions of dollars to protect people and businesses from the pandemic.
Trudeau’s ruling Liberals had a minority government, which left him dependent on other parties to govern. Surveys show that the Liberals’ early big lead has vanished, leaving them neck and neck with the Conservatives of Erin O’Toole.
“Why did you trigger an election in the middle of a fourth wave?” O’Toole asked Trudeau at the French-language debate in Montreal.