The third leaders' debate, done entirely in French, touched on everything from pipelines to niqabs — all while offering the usual tasting of politicians yelling over one another.
Those poor, poor translators.
This debate, like previous ones, featured five leaders who often tried to yell over one another. Translators had the arduous task of trying to communicate that bickering live over the English networks.
“This is false” - Mulcair’s translator “Not at all!” - Trudeau’s translator “Look this is” -M.T. “IT’S THE TRUTH” - T.T.
Because the debate was in French, those with the strongest grasp of the language generally had an easier time dealing quick blows to their opponents.
The leaders were asked to provide their personal views on doctor-assisted suicide. The Supreme Court of Canada recently struck down a law against it.
The leaders acknowledged that it's a delicate issue, but Trudeau, Mulcair, and Duceppe criticized Harper over his government's handling of it, saying political parties in Quebec were able to respectfully work together to deal with the issue.
Of course, since the debate was in Quebec, separatism came up.
The issue of whether women should be allowed to wear the niqab during public citizenship ceremonies elicited some heated responses from the leaders.
The leaders also sparred over what to do with that problem-plagued Senate.
"The Senate is part of our British traditions," Mulcair says. That's a new line, clearly saved up for this debate.
Mulcair said he'd work with the provinces to open the Constitution and ditch the Senate. Duceppe chimed in by saying that doing so would also create a great opportunity to make Québec an independent country.
Harper criticized his opponents for being unclear on whether or not they support pipelines.
"It's all negative towards pipeline - and it was the contrary when we were in Calgary." - Stephen Harper
May said the problem with transporting oil isn't about the argument over trains vs. pipelines, it's about the oil itself and Canada's dependency on it.
Harper, who was also criticized for Canada's record on climate change, said his government's emissions targets are on par with those of other countries.
Mulcair said emissions may have dropped, but joked that it's only because factories closed (meaning manufacturing jobs were lost) recently.
May called Bill C-51, the recently enacted anti-terror legislation, the "most dangerous law in Canadian history."
While on the topic of foreign affairs, the party leaders again got into a heated conversation about the refugee crisis.
Mulcair attacked Canada's immigration minister over the handling of an application to Canada by the family of the dead toddler photographed on a Turkish beach.
Mulcair: "He had a name: Alan Kurdi." Goes after Chris Alexander: "He did nothing."
Duceppe said the provinces, municipalities, and the Red Cross are all ready to welcome more refugees from Syria. "It's the federal (government) that isn't ready," he said.
The leaders also repeated their parties' stances on the current bombing campaign against ISIS.
