Federal leaders trade pointed barbs during debate on economy
Harper, Mulcair and Trudeau clash in Calgary during Globe and Mail debate
A series of feisty exchanges marked Thursday night's debate on the economy, as the three federal leaders launched pointed attacks on each other's plans on a range of issues, including jobs, energy, deficits andinfrastructure.
This second debate, certainly a higher energy affair than the first, sawConservative Leader Stephen Harper on the defensive during attacks fromNDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who claimed his economic policies have resulted in hundreds of thousands of joblosses and stagnant economic growth.
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Butwith the race so close, Trudeau and Mulcairalso didn't hold back from slamming each other.
On jobs, TrudeauaccusedHarper of havingtheworst job creation rate since the Second World War,the worst growth rate of any prime minister since the Great Depression and of being out of touch with the concerns of regular Canadians.
"Mr. Harpermay not see what's goingon from 24 Sussex Dr., but I do."
Mulcaircriticized Harper for countingon resource extraction forjob creationand blamed his policies forthe loss of 400,000 manufacturing jobs since the recession.
"Mr. Harper put all of his eggs into one basket, and then he dropped the basket," Mulcair said.
But Harper dismissedMulcairandTrudeau'seconomicplans as consisting of nothing more thanreckless spending and tax hikes, while he defendedhisrecord.
"I've never said things are great," said Harper.
"Where would you rather have been but in Canada?" he asked."Looking forward, where would you want to be but Canada?"
Pipelines and the environment
On the issue of energy, Trudeau and Mulcair attacked Harper's environmental record, asTrudeaucriticizedthe Conservative leader for making the oilsands an international pariah and failing to get pipelines built.
"With friends like Stephen Harper,Alberta doesn't need enemies,"Trudeausaid.
Mulcair accused Harper of gutting a whole series of environmental laws and of seeing theenvironment and the economy"aspolar opposites. Everybody in Canada knows you have to work on bothat the same time."
However, Harper snapped back that his government has done both, and accused Mulcair of being the only leader in Canadian history to go to another country [the U.S.]to argue against Canadian jobs and Canadian development projects. Mulcair went to the U.S. to argue against the Keystone pipeline, but he countered that his motivation was to prevent jobs being exported to the south.
Harper said his government has invested a billion dollars a year in green energy and said the NDP solution is to impose costs upon consumers in a fragile global economy.
The issueof deficits was also a hot topicas the leadershave staked out divergent views, with both Harper andMulcairpledging balanced budgets and surpluses. ButTrudeau hasargued that what's needed tokickstartthe economyis long-term infrastructure spending, which is why he would run three deficits if the Liberals form a government.
"Running a deficit is not the kind of protection our economy needs," Harper said. "We don't need to spend more just for the sake of being able to say we've spent more."
Trudeaulashed back atHarper's own record, saying, "You have run deficitsin good years, rundeficits in bad years. The only time you haven'trun deficits in is in electionyears."
Leaders divided on taxes
ButMulcairpounced onTrudeau'sdeficit plan, sayingthat inJuly he had announced he would balance the books.
"So I think Justin, that it's only fair to say that when your advisers tell you one thing and another and they're totally contradictory, pick one. You just can't say them both."
On taxes,Trudeauhas said he would not touch the corporate tax rate, but would implement atax hike on the wealthiest one per cent.Mulcair, who hasmade billions of dollars of program pledges, has said he would raisethecorporate tax rate to 17per cent from its current 15 per cent.However they both accused the other of coddling the wealthy
Mulcair rejected Trudeau'sfiscalplan as "frankly, reckless and uncosted,"prompting Trudeau,in defence of his infrastructure spending plan, to say that Mulcair likes to talk about the long term, but doesn't realize the long term starts right now.
Harper repeatedlycastigatedboth of his opponents, criticizingTrudeau'splanto raisetaxesand rundeficitsand dismissingMulcair'splan asthe "same old NDP playbook" of raising taxeson corporations.
Content to stand back
At times, Harper appeared content to stand back and let his opponents attack each other. In one exchange,Mulcairand Trudeaubattled overchild care.Trudeausaidthe NDP leader's plan for $15-a-day child carewould take too long to helpthose in need now, because of his promise to balance the books.
"They need it right away, but Mr. Mulcair is not making a choice that's going to allow him to invest in his promises. They're puffs of smoke."
"You know a lot about that, don't you, Justin," Mulcair responded, a jab at Trudeau's support for legalizing marijuana.
The debate held in Stampede Park inCalgary washosted by the Globe and Mail and moderated by its editor in chief, David Walmsley.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who was not invited to participate, instead teamedup with Twitterto be able to respond to the statements of the leaders.
Harperhas wanted to make the campaign about his economic stewardship, and the debate comes on the heels of a number of financial reports, some good, some not.
Earlier this month, Statistics Canada reported that Canada's GDPhad contracted over two consecutive quarters, meeting the technical definition of a recession.
But the Conservative leader has also been buoyed by figures showing thatCanadawas in a $5-billion surplus for the April-to-June period this year. That news was followed by figures showingCanada also posted a surplus of $1.9 billion for the 2014-15 fiscal year,endingsixyears of deficits under Harper'swatch
On the overall economy, Harper hasblamed thedownturn on the collapse of oil pricesand insisted that theother sectors of the economy are growing and that Canada's fiscal positionremains strong.
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'Throwing open our borders'
One of the more memorable exchanges of the nightdidn't specifically involve the economy but has emerged as one of the top issuesof the campaign the government's policy toward the Syrian refugee crisis. Trudeau and Mulcair accusedHarper of not doing enough to bring in moreSyrian refugees, which prompted a spirited defence from the Conservative leader.
"These guys would have had, in the last two weeks, us throwingopen our borders and literally hundreds of thousands of peoplecoming without any kind of security check or documentation," Harper said."Thatwould have been an enormous mistake."
Both Trudeau and Mulcair countered that Harper was fear-mongering and using security concerns as an excuse to keep Canada's doors shut.
"Mr. Harper plays to fears all the time," Trudeau shot back. "Fears of others, fears of different communities. We have a prime minister who prefers to pander to fears. That's not right, sir."
With files from The Canadian Press
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