Federal Leaders' Debate 2021

this was just scattering money around to build gazebos and fake lakes the one you bought you can't build you try to open up the treaty you can lose everything and don't try to paper over what's happening in people's lives it's still time for it we had to take over the mess that you left us it's not economically disastrous it's a smart economic thing to do and an agreement between quebec and canada was always impossible it's very unclear [Music] live from gatineau quebec this is the 2021 federal leaders debate we're coming to you from the grand hall in the canadian museum of history on the traditional unseated territory of the algonquin anishnabeg people a place for canadians to reflect on the country's past but tonight we are looking ahead to the future good evening i'm shachi curl i'm the president of the angus reed institute and tonight i will be your moderator let's welcome the party leaders justin trudeau for the liberal party aaron o'toole for the conservative party e francois blaschette of the black quebecois pleasure jagmeet singh of the ndp and anime paul for the greens welcome leaders good evening great to be here tonight's event is being produced for the leaders debates commission by a media partnership including aptn news cbc news ctv news and global news the debate is also offered in 10 other languages including cree and nuktituk denny as well as described video and asl 20 000 canadians have weighed in telling us what they want to hear from the leaders and five themes have emerged leadership and accountability climate change reconciliation affordability and covid recovery tonight four undecided journalists rather for undecided voters and journalists maybe the journalists are undecided as well we'll be putting their questions directly to the leaders and you leaders you've agreed to tonight's rules and format so before we begin please answer the questions you're asked do not interrupt each other i don't want to cut you off but i will if i have to okay all right let's get started [Music] you will each get a different question and you have 45 seconds to answer you all have a countdown clock the theme is leadership and accountability your speaking order has been determined by draw and mr singh you are first time is to sing hi there mr singh you are popular and you inspire many canadians but your platform is full of big promises and when it comes to how you'll pay for it all there's not a lot of details given this how can canadians know that you are really ready to lead i really appreciate the question and i want to say good evening to everyone tuning in there is a serious question that people are asking themselves in this election they're wondering who's going to pay the price of this pandemic and the recovery and we do have bold plans about how we can invest in people but we are the only party with a credible plan that will not put the burden on people that will not cut the help that they need unlike mr trudeau and mr o'toole who voted against making the ultra rich pay their fair share we believe that billionaires should pay their fair share we should end the loopholes and the offshore tax havens that mean billions of dollars are lost that we are not able to invest in people we want to put the burden on those that are at the very very top so we can invest in the solutions that people need tackling the climate crisis investing in housing all right thank you mr singh next to you mr trudeau because you wanted a new mandate you plunged the country into an election even as the pandemic spurs thousands of new cases but over the last 18 months opposition parties have largely stood with you putting the nation above politics why aren't you doing the same how can you justify an election at this time thank you miss carl i think first of all i want to thank canadians for being here tonight and making an important choice and also quite frankly for everything you've done over the past number of months to help get ourselves and our neighbors through this tonight over the next couple of hours you're going to hear some very very different very strong ideas uh that are radically different about how we're going to move forward through this pandemic to end it how we're going to build back better those decisions are going to be taken by your government now in the coming weeks this fall not a year from now not two years from now could it not have waited a few months mr trump i know you want to go harder and faster on vaccinations i know you want to go harder and faster on climate change and you get to choose exactly that in this election all right that's time thank you mr blanchett to you you deny that quebec has problems with racism yet you defend legislation such as bills 96 and 21 which marginalize religious minorities anglophones and allophones quebec is recognized as a distinct society but for those outside the province please help them understand why your party also supports these discriminatory laws the question seems to imply the answer you want those laws are not about discrimination they are about the values of quebec and yet and yet religious minorities sir cannot progress if they wear their religious skills quebec is not recognized as a distant society it's been recognized as a nation on june 16th by department 281 votes said that quebec is a nation and everybody here seems to agree with that no more distinct society which never had any meaning anyway meaning not meeting so again why the discriminatory laws and your support for it sir you may repeat as many times as you want that those are discriminatory laws we are saying that those are legitimate laws that apply on quebec territory and there seems to be people around here who will share this point of view which is again by itself for quebec all right thank you mr mr blanchett ms paul to you for millions of voters this is the climate change election but at this critical time you've been bogged down in internal strife if your own party doesn't fully support you how can canadians trust you to lead through one of the most defining issues of our times it's an excellent question and it's an honor to be here tonight on the unseated territories of the algonquin peoples it has been a very difficult period and do i wish that our party had been further ahead particularly at this moment absolutely do i believe that we have wonderful candidates running all over the country that you should consider voting for absolutely being who i am and in this position has been incredibly hard being here tonight was not an obvious thing i've had to crawl over a lot of broken glass to get here i'm proud to be here i'm proud to be the first of my kind and because i am the first of my kind i know that i won't be the last thank you miss paul and to you mr o'toole mr o'toole you recommend vaccinations but you won't make your candidates get them you have a climate plan but you won't dump a candidate that shares climate conspiracies you're on record supporting the lgbtq2 community but you allowed half your mps to vote against legislation protecting them tell me how can voters trust that it's you and not your caucus that will be in charge of a conservative policy agenda well thank you miss curl i'm a new leader of the conservative party and we have a plan to get the country back on its feet after a difficult 18 months in this crisis i'm a pro-choice ally to the lgbtq community that comes from my service in the military where i served alongside people from all backgrounds all orientations putting the country first and our platform including a detailed plan on climate change is about making sure we secure the future jobs accountability national leadership or your caucus that's driving the bus i am driving the bus to make sure we get this country back on track and i'm here to defend the rights of all canadians women members of the lgbtq community indigenous canadians i want to make sure we all secure a future together thank you mr o'toole all right leaders thank you it is now time for our first face-to-face debate mr trudeau ms paul you're up starting with mr trudeau based on this question you call yourself a feminist but on your watch sexual misconduct in canada's armed forces continues to run rampant tell me why are you allowing these unacceptable conditions to continue i think we recognize that there are systems and institutions that need to change across the country and that's why from the very beginning we stepped up with policies new policies stronger policies and processes to support every survivor everyone who comes forward because nobody should deserves to work in a workplace where they are being discriminated against where they are being uh harassed or hassled we have been unequivocal about that my leadership has been unequivocal about that yes these problems continue in workplaces across the country particularly in the military that's unacceptable which is why we've taken even stronger measures it's unsatisfactory to have to say we're relying on process in this we want to just be able to have easy answers paul what's your response to that easy answer you have to fall back on process i have said before and i'll say again tonight that i do not believe that mr trudeau is a real feminist a feminist doesn't continue to push strong women out of his um out of his party when they are just seeking to serve and i will say their names tonight and thank them thank you jane philpott thank you jody wilson raybald thank you selena cesar chavenez and i'm here tonight thanks to the work that you have done i believe that if there were more women on this platform tonight and in previous years that we in fact would have better better laws in our military we would have for child care at this point we would have many of the things that we need i am the only woman other than elizabeth made to be on this platform in the last 18 years the liberal party has never had a woman lead it i think it's time for the party to examine you'll perhaps understand that i won't take lessons on caucus management from you and i think what i will keep focused on is making sure that our first women uh finance minister has moved forward mr trudeau i'm sorry that's time we have to move on mr blanchett mr o'toole and mr singh this next topic is for you to debate canada's transition to a green economy depends on pipelines at a time when ontario and quebec face uncertain energy supply over line five this country cannot extract nor distribute oil domestically our theme is leadership tell me which one of you is best to lead on these complex issues mr blanchett per the draw you begin i'm not very much interested in leading canada however i am very much interested in making sure that quebec is entitled to its own vision for the future you know in quebec we do not have energy issues that much because we are lucky we are lucky it's a bit of luck that we can produce green energy and a large amount but the whole planet cannot afford this idea this very canadian idea this very conservative idea and as far as i know this very liberal idea that we have to produce more oil export more oil believing that the money from it will reduce gas emission which won't happen all canadian families deserve an economic recovery including families in western canada that feel left out after six years of mr trudeau when it comes to leadership our natural resources sector is a leader in environmental social governance anytime canadian resources are removed from the global supply chain you know who fills that gap saudi arabia venezuela russia well all of these organizations and companies are getting their emissions down let's get emissions down and canadian resources to market so that we can have jobs opportunity and fight climate change interesting when it comes to leadership on on the fighting this this essential crisis one of the biggest crisis we're up against we've got a difficult choice for canadians you've got on one side someone who doesn't believe there's a crisis and then on the other you have mr trudeau who doesn't act like there's a crisis and what it's going to take is real leadership because the solutions are there we can invest in green energy clean energy we can invest in renewable energy doesn't give up on it tens of thousands of workers we'll never come up with workers we're workers that are working hard for their family so we can get our resources tomorrow one at a time gentlemen mr o'toole then back to you mr sanchez i want to see canadians get back to work in all sectors in all regions and i'm proud of what we produce in our country whether it's our resources or the resources in the heads of our young people we need workers to get emissions down mr tools and get our energy to market these workers need a plan that's going to create jobs for the future and that's a responsibility of government we've seen six years of mr trudeau and workers can't afford another four years what we need to do is invest in a diversified economy clean energy we need to electrify transportation we need to invest in retrofitting homes and buildings we need to create good job innovations now but we need an economic recovery leadership is not only saying the words it's proposing solutions admitting a problem which they're not doing all right thank you uh my next question is for all of you we've had some encouraging news out of kabul overnight with the escape of 43 canadians that said thousands of people who helped canada during canada's mission in afghanistan have been left behind in their hour of need and it is unknown if we will ever get them all out to each of you what would you have done differently mr o'toole per the draw you begin canada should never leave behind people that are at risk because they helped us when afghanistan was falling there were 1200 canadians and hundreds more translators and others waiting for help from canada what did mr trudeau do you called an election sir you put your own political interests ahead of the well-being of thousands of people leadership is about putting others first not yourself mr trudeau you should not have called this election you should have gotten the job done in afghanistan mr o'toole hold on this is not open debate leaders this is this is uh a situation where we're asking a question to each of you no problem mr trio i'm trying to keep track i would like him because he called an election in the fourth wave of a pandemic with fires in british columbia and with unfinished business in afghanistan all right thank you mr o'toole i'm going to give the opportunity next for the draw to mr singh you guys will have tons of time to debate so hang tight mr singh sadly what's happened in in afghanistan is a tragedy that was something we knew about we knew about the withdrawal date we knew from president biden what that date would be and and sadly i agree with mr o'toole on this one point that it was a bad decision to call an election while this crisis was going on particularly because we've got allies on the ground that put their lives at risk to support our canadian forces who are now looking at peril for their lives and may never get out of afghanistan we know the impact on women and girls in afghanistan it's heartbreaking and it could have been avoided veterans had told mr trudeau and his government for a long time that the current approach was not working those calls were not heated and as a result we're in this really horrible situation thank you thank you mr singh mr blanchett first good news i seem to understand from what i read a few hours ago that kabul airport is now being open for some people to get out of the country which is a which is very good news this should have been worked a long long time ago i agree with with mr o'toole that mr tudor should have put those people interest before his own however the problem is that canada has failed many times to create some strong partnerships with other countries in order to be stronger facing a situation like afghanistan now because by itself we must admit canada is not a world power thank you mr blanchett mr trudeau i invite you to respond now thank you mr curl it's unfortunate to hear the members uh the leaders on this stage talking down the incredible work that our canadian armed forces that our diplomats that are that are consular officials did from the beginning of the summer uh to ensure that as of the very beginning of august well before this election we were getting flights out of afghanistan we got uh 3 700 people out of afghanistan and over the past weeks we've been working with the qataris for example on exactly that good news that we've seen of more people more canadians getting out of afghanistan we work closely with our allies because we know canadians sacrifice in afghanistan for a better future we need to stand by the people who helped us who helped themselves and we will with even more people coming to canada in the coming months all right mr trudeau miss paul as a former diplomat and and with a husband who provided uh advice on uh the peace negotiations in afghanistan we were hearing the stories all the time in the months leading up uh that this was foreseeable and so it seems like we got better information on our smartphones than mr trudeau got from our entire intelligence service based on what he's saying uh the thing is that when you people count on you when you make a promise to them then you do it so that people can count on canada's word when someone is your partner you go with them you go for them or you don't amount to much and so leaving behind people in afghanistan walking up to rideau hall and calling an election under these circumstances was not the right thing to do and to borrow a line from mr singh from 2019 mr trudeau could just say hey man i messed up all right miss paul thank you very much thank you all and now it is our time for a first attempt at open debate jumping off of this question michael kovrig and michael spaver have been in chinese prisons for one thousand and four days the next prime minister has key decisions to make about our already tense relationship with china such as telecommunications security and foreign investment some say this all comes down to a trade-off between canada's economic growth and recognition of human rights i'd like to know where you all stand i'm sure you want to exchange on that mr singh for the draw you begin leaders you may jump in thank you very much we know that we can't imagine what what it is for mr sparrow and mr kovrick to be going through a thousand plus days in a prison without access to human rights i can't imagine what their friends and their families are going through right now all i know is we have to do everything possible to secure the release of these two canadians we need to work with our allies apply pressure and make sure that we return these canadians home that's that's what we've got to do and that's exactly what we've been doing over the past three years we have worked with international allies to put pressure on china in every single one of their meetings we've worked closely uh with the united states we at the g7 a few weeks ago worked with the international community to make sure we're moving forward on challenging china where necessary in human rights competing with them economically where we need to and holding them to account on the rule of law as a global community and canada's voice has been very strong on that canada's voice has been absent mr trudeau we have not worked with our allies on huawei we have not stood up for the 300 000 canadians in hong kong we've not fought for the two michaels and put pressure on the communist regime we have not stood up for human rights sir you did not show up for a vote declaring a genocide towards the uyghur people you didn't show up canada is the country that was leading the fight against apartheid we created the u.n human rights code we should be leaders for our value sir and you've let the michaels down and we have to get serious with china if you want to let the michaels and get the michaels home you do not simply lob tomatoes across the pacific that is what mr harper tried for a number of years and didn't get anywhere you need to engage in a sophisticated way with our allies every step of the way you have to take the same position that's exactly what you have done cyber security mr trudeau we are out of step and our allies are wondering where canada's gone you started as prime minister saying you admired china i could uh i i'm coming to you miss paul just a second i want to get to mr singh and then to you ms paul i appreciate thank you very much uh the opportunity i wanna also talk we're talking about leadership and accountability and in this pandemic one of the moments i think of leadership that has been a failure is the fact that uh when we talk about leadership it means finding solutions and in our long-term care homes here in canada we saw the worst conditions we're going to have time to chat with that later the topic is china human rights and economic growth to you ms paul yes and and this is an area where certainly lines are being redrawn all across the world and the main thing that canada is going to have going forward in terms of currency is its word when we make a promise we have to keep those promises that's how when we need help we get it you know my mom grew up on a farm in a small community and she learned very young and taught us that you have to give your word to your neighbors and they have to be able to count on it so that when you need help they're there for you and so when we don't show up when we're asked for vaccines from kovacs and then we take vaccines from kovacs when the uyghur asks us for help to declare a genocide and we don't do that when we don't show up on the climate by setting targets that are ambitious but at the same time in line with our international partners and do our fair share then our word doesn't count for much and then it makes it very hard for us to help people like the michaels when they need us the most mr blanchard did you want to get in drink tomatoes might not be the solution but i would submit only that doing nothing might not be the solution either the mr trudeau's record on human rights is not perfect we might name the two michaels we might name we good in xinjiang we might name taiwan hong kong we might name catalonia and mr pujaman we might name the worst of all mr blacks being still held in saudi arabia because canada wants to sell weapon and military supply to saudi arabia okay okay gentlemen one at a time the parliament voted unanimously to give citizenship to rafe badawi nothing has been done afterwards all right oh mr o'toole mr trudeau mr singh mr blanchett is correct canada is needed back on the world stage we may be smaller than china with respect to population and economy but we are a giant when it comes to our commitments to human rights to dignity into the rule of law and we have to start working with our allies to take a more serious approach for human rights standing up for our workers on fair trade and making sure that our voice is a principled one on the world stage again the problem with mr o'toole and his principles is he says all the right sounding things and he's working on reassuring everyone that he's right there as a strong leader but he can't convince his candidates to get vaccinated he can't convince his mps i'm giving the last word i'm giving the last word to mr singh mr trudeau please to you mr saint leadership means standing up i mean standing up for the uyghur in china it means standing up to defend uh people around the world it also means showing leadership when it comes to fighting the climate crisis we've got the worst record under mr trudeau in the g7 so that's not leadership certainly not all right thank you very much thank you leaders we are now moving on to our next theme which is climate change [Music] all right this time we're starting with a question from trevor mcmullen he is a high school teacher in lunenburg nova scotia he's standing by trevor what's your question hey good evening as leader what immediate actions would you take to make green technology more accessible and affordable so that everyday canadians don't have to bear the financial burden of being environmentally ethical all right thank you trevor leaders you've heard trevor's question mr ms paul i apologize ms paul you're going first thank you so much for that question and it you know trevor that's exactly where your head should be at that's where all of our heads should be at how can we use this opportunity to seize the moment to create a green economy how can we incentivize every single person in canada every company and every enterprise to adopt green technologies how can we come a global leader and so absolutely if you look at our platform you will see that we propose incentives all the way from buying electric cars new and used to retrofitting homes uh you know to uh all of these items that will help make life easier for you and help for you to do your part but this is a national and international issue we need national leadership on it and we need it across party lines thank you ms paul mr singh thank you thank you trevor i really appreciate the question and i'm sure you speak to a lot of young people as a teacher and are and are seeing the fear in their eyes the worry and the desperation that young people have because they don't know what type of future they're going to inherit and they're worried about the impacts of the climate crisis because it's hurting us now and it's only going to get worse if we don't do anything about it and to invest in that future we need to make choices and right now we look at the choices mr trudeau has made over the past six years he has promised to end fossil fuel subsidies but instead of ending them he has increased them to 900 million dollars per year that is money we could spend on investing in clean technology in making it easier for people to access that technology and to make to do our part to fight the climate crisis so it's a matter of choices we can't afford another four years ago thank you mr singh to you mr o'toole thank you for the question trevor i was raised by two strong women who were teachers and they told me to be straight up this is an area where the conservatives we had to win back some trust we hadn't met the expectations of canadians on climate change it's an important issue for me as a father of a of a high schooler and we talk about it all the time that's why in april long before the election i put out a substantial package pricing carbon to meet our paris targets and what's interesting our low-carbon savings account will allow people to actually make green choices to lower their carbon footprint this approach is innovative because it would allow all canadians to know what their carbon footprint is and make those innovative investments to lower it i think we all have a role to play and our plan is detailed and we'll deliver on it mr blanchett thank you to be with us sir i hope you appreciate a little bit blond answers first you cap you put a ceiling on any production of oil and gas you take all the money that the federal government is placing into that industry even more by the liberals than the conservatives before and you put that into green energy and you take the money for trans mountain and you give it to alberta for alberta to initiate its own transition toward a greener economy this is the way to do things because if we don't do that and keep dreaming about reducing gas emission while increasing production we will never get there thank you mr blanchett mr trudeau thank you trevor for your question from one teacher to another i know uh that you need to ground your decisions and what you share with your students in science and all these leaders on here have various claims about what their climate change plan is going to do unfortunately if you look at what the experts and the climate scientists and the economists have said we are the ones with the strongest plan to fight climate change and how to answer your question specifically how to make it more affordable for canadians well the first thing we did on that was bring in a national price on pollution that incentivizes businesses to go cleaner at the same time as it puts more money in families pockets we are going to put a cap on oil sands and oil and gas emissions and decline it until net zero and create those opportunities and investments that are going to make it more affordable for you and your students for many years to come thank you mr trudeau thank you trevor have a good evening i'm turning it back to the leaders it is time for more debate the draw has mr trudeau and mr o'toole facing off your topic is climate change even today one in four canadians don't believe that climate change is caused by human activity how can we achieve real progress when so many people are still debating the fundamentals mr o'toole you begin climate change is a real threat not only to canada and to the world that's why we have to take a serious plan to tackle it that's why as i said we put our plan out in april because we had to restore some trust on this issue to make sure we can show canadians we can get emissions down and get the economy working again that is key we have a plan to meet our paris targets but minimize the impact on jobs and investment we're also going to make major investments in electric vehicles in the hydrogen economy small modular reactors there is so much we can do to get our emissions down but grow a strong economy because without a strong economy we can't tackle climate change we can't tackle the issues of the reality that mr o'toole has never understood is you can't have a strong economy unless you tackle climate change and you ask about how we're going to convince the quarter of canadians who still don't think climate change is real well mr o'toole can't even convince his party that climate change is real because they voted against that and that's perhaps why his plan is so weak his plan is to go back to the harper targets uh to the harper approach on fighting climate change which doesn't work his costed platform which he just put out last night cuts mr trudeau and from things and for our friends in bc you have never made a target girl let him respond mr trudeau piper don't let mr o'toole respond to you mr o'toole uh thank you tanker mr trudeau always forgets one fact he has never made a target for climate change he has great ambition that's part of the reason we're in an election in a pandemic is his ambition he doesn't have achievement well he never meets his targets away except for the fact that right now we are on twitter gentlemen we have to wrap up this segment all right we are moving on we are moving on leaders next up is mr singh mr blanchette and ms paul i'd like each of you to describe how you'll implement a national approach that best recognizes the significant regional differences involved in fighting climate change you begin mr singh you may jump in one at a time please of course well here's the thing we just heard mr o'toole and mr trudeau argue about who's worse and honestly it's a tough question to answer let me tell you you're not stuck with these two better is possible we can invest in a clean economy we can end fossil fuel subsidies we can make sure we're creating clean transportation and we can invest in provinces and territories to make sure they have the resources necessary to fight the climate crisis i'm hopeful i'm optimistic i'm going to be a dad soon and i want to make sure my my child grows up into a future that has the same opportunities that i had that has a clean air clean water a clean place to live i want to make sure that that's hard as far as i understand it it is not a national or even less original issue it is a planetary issue and it has to be tackled by everybody at once but i would be glad to give some of my precious time to mr o'toole because a week ago a little more than that he said in french that he did not want any more to have a pipeline to go through quebec that was quite a statement he said that in french no more pipeline through quebec i want to hear that in english tonight please please we'll miss quite frankly this we're not going to let that happen this on the climate uh this sort of approach is going to get us nowhere and i'm and a global issue this is a national issue this is a non-partisan issue and we have got to be able to come together across party lines i wanted i said that i was available for a debate just on the climate because it's that important but we and we've invited many times all of the parties to join us in a joint cabinet a cross-party cabinet to deal with this the way that we dealt with the pandemic together people were so inspired to see these leaders come together in the early days of the pandemic we have got to bring that same approach here let's come together because that's what's needed thank you very much i absolutely agree we do need to come together i can lay out what we shouldn't do and what we need to do what we shouldn't do is what mr trudeau did set targets and miss them we shouldn't promise to end fossil fuel subsidies and then increase them we shouldn't put a price on pollution and then exempt the biggest polluters what we need to do is end those fossil fuel subsidies invest in provinces and territories with infrastructure that's going to help us with the greatest of respect to mistress saying we have been making this invitation for years and it has never been accepted by the ndp or any other party all right we have to wrap this section now leaders it is time for me with great pleasure to welcome mercedes stevenson of global news she is joining us now and she's going to be asking each of you a direct question on climate change this round starts with mr trudeau hi mercedes hi thank you so much for having me hello candidates it's a pleasure to have the opportunity to ask you about a question that is on a lot of canadians minds the question of climate change mr trudeau starting with you on your watch canada's greenhouse gas emissions have gone up every year since 2016 giving this country the worst emissions reduction record in the g7 according to the most recent data from your government canada's emissions in 2019 were just as high as they were 15 years ago environmentalists say that your performance is insufficient if you're so serious about climate change why are canada's emissions still going up well we inherited a government from a conservatives that did not believe in the fight against climate change and we had a lot of catching up to do but what we were able to do in six years is bring a national price on pollution ban single-use plastics move forward and protecting more of our coasts and oceans and rivers than any government in history and we are right now on track to exceeding those 20 30 targets set uh at the beginning at paris uh down to 36 percent and uh we've gone even further with that with a concrete plan that the experts have said is the only one that can achieve a 40 which they say you're unlikely that is what we're dealing with okay mr trudeau mr dolce your party often criticizes the oil and gas industry in canada's western provinces you've said that you would block pipelines trying to go through quebec while you were the environment minister though you allowed oil exploration and carbon intensive projects without environmental assessment so why the double standard and what do you say to canadians who feel that you're blocking their prosperity there were three issues that have been raised since i've been into this election first one is having reversed the 9b line of enbridge which has been reversed a few years sooner without any evaluation or anything second one is a project in bidi shala which already had been submitted to an evaluation and environmental evaluation and the other one was to have an environmental environmental i will come to that evaluation after the exploration this is all a buildup made by the previously environmentalist stephen gilbeau from the parsilveral which the prime minister did not even know about when he attacked me with it my record is also i've been having signed the carbon market with california which is still considered the best way to tackle the gas emission through incentives and uh terrorists around i wouldn't say the world at least north america that is time mercedes your next question mr o'toole you're next under your plan canada would abandon its current climate target instead you would settle for a weaker one in fact it's one set six years ago by stephen harper world leaders are meeting this fall to ratchet up their commitments on climate change on the global stage yet you would walk ours back you've said that climate change is real and you've endorsed carbon pricing but your target is the lowest of all of the major parties who are here tonight why should canadians settle for your plan and a plan that would take our targets back in time because canadians deserve to have a plan and leadership to make the targets mr trudeau went to paris the targets i'm talking about making are the ones he signed on to and then for six years did not make them he likes to blame everyone else but himself for action so what we did because as i said mercedes we have to build trust on this issue we went out and worked with the top consultancy in the country to come up with a plan to price carbon to get our emissions down to meet paris but to also get people back to work after covet 19 with half trillion dollars worth of debt put on by mr trudeau with a cost of living crisis we also need infrastructure to get our emissions down we will make our emission targets and i think it's important for canada to have a plan to meet what it signs on to internationally ms paul of the green party obviously environment a big focus in your plan calls for a sixty percent reduction in canada's emissions by the year 2030. other countries that are making that commitment don't face the same challenges that we do here in canada we live in a cold northern sprawling country and our economy still relies on resource extraction much of which you've said you would shut down completely in your platform how would you offset the economic harm that would result from meeting such an aggressive target thanks for the question and first let me say that when i think about our future and i think about the future of energy canada will remain an energy superpower but we will be a renewable energy superpower and i think about my brother who was a roughneck out on the oil patch until the bust during the pandemic and i think about his future and i know that we have got to diversify our economy but i tell the people of canada today that what happens next is really up to you we can keep moving towards a mirage and that is what these promises are a mirage that's just out there in the distance that we never arrive at or you can send people back to ottawa from every single party who are committed to working together across party lines on the greatest existential challenge of our time and seizing the opportunity of a truly green recovery mr singh you accuse the trudeau government of being all talk and no action when it comes to climate change and yet you won't even give canadians a straight answer on whether or not you would cancel the trans mountain pipeline expansion you've had years as ndp leader to develop a climate plan your platform has lots of big ideas and big targets but almost no details on how you would get there don't you owe canadians a clear answer on your climate roadmap and will you provide one tonight absolutely and i'm honored to do so we've got a bold plan that's going to take a lot of courage that requires lots of investment because we know how serious this crisis is and we know what we're up against unlike mr trudeau we're not going to blame previous governments we know that in power we have the power to make it a change if we vote for the same things we're going to get the same results so i want canadians to know you have a choice we are committed to answer we'll lay some of it out one of it is to end fossil fuel subsidies use that to invest in clean energy we would make sure we prioritize investing in electrified transportation we would invest in retrofitting homes and buildings to reduce our emissions there is so much that we can do we are confident we can do it but there is a cost if we continue down the same path of conservative or liberals who don't take this seriously you have a choice all right thank you now it is time for open debate mercedes is going to keep you leaders on theme i'm going to keep you on time and make sure everyone has a chance to be heard miss paul we're starting with you back to you mercedes thank you canadians want their government to fight climate change but they also worry about the cost for their families and we know there will be a cost to this why should canadians trust your party to see us through this there is a global green rush going on now to create the competitive green economy of the future what the greens don't want to see is canada being left behind because that is exactly what's happening you know i'm sure that the last candle maker was the person that had the market cornered on candle making but if everyone has moved on to led lights then you're in trouble and so what we want to see is a seizing this opportunity and mercedes to your earlier question if denmark and greenland other cold countries can end oil exploration then certainly we can do it and if 27 countries in the european union can come together collaboratively to have an ambitious plan for the climate then surely with leadership we can do the same here in canada i know canada can do anything that any other country can do absolutely i think we absolutely can if any type of energy is removed from the global market canadian energy it's replaced by a bad actor country that doesn't have carbon reduction programs it doesn't have human rights it doesn't have engagement with indigenous communities indigenous partnerships in natural resources is huge so you said the cost there are tens of thousands of jobs that deserve an economic recovery just as much as anyone else there are indigenous partnerships economic reconciliation and a move towards a made in canada net zero by 2050. so let's be leaders

in getting carbon emissions down and being world leaders on how we have natural resources whether it's energy timber rarely minerals it's called eb world leaders again let's talk about the cost the cost of inaction is an entire town of litton being wiped out by a climate forest fire the cost of inaction is forest fires and flooding and heat waves that mean canadians lose their lives the cost of not acting means a young woman i met in hamilton who looked me in the eyes and said what's the point of me pursuing my education what's the point of me finding a partner or even starting a family when i don't know what type of future i'll live in let alone my child that's the cost of an action that's the cost of mr trudeau who had six years ago do something about this again it's not two years i got a when we talk about a climate crisis we have to deal in facts and one of the facts i need to correct right now that everyone has laid into is we have not missed any of our targets we on track to exceeding our targets and it's important each year we are beyond facts secondly i do have a question i'm from mr city we need to talk about science we need to talk about experts we agree on that you and i both so how is it that the experts that have raided our plan on climate to be an a have rated your plan to be and we're the experts i rate your your track record and affirmative you've got nine years you don't get the rate well let me respond to this let's talk you're talking about the future let's talk about right now you had six years why didn't you let me let me finish you've got the worst track record in all the g7 after six years how can people trust you why did computers every politician up here says we have the best plan we actually have a record what mercedes question was how do we make sure it's affordable we brought in a price on pollution across the country that puts more money back in the pockets in the provinces where it had to be imposed because conservative politicians fought against it every step of the way is paul with the greatest of respect um the i think the five phd's in our shadow cabinet who put together our green green recovery policy would disagree with you with the experts but i do want to say more generally that again this is getting us nowhere we have got to be able to come together across party lines not only to face the existential crisis that mr singh described but also to seize the greatest economic opportunity that canada has seen within our lifetimes we are being left behind and if the united states can do it if the european union can do it i know that we can do it it's about a change in the culture all right thank you miss paul mr blanchette did you want to give us that i'm quite behind everybody else and i have 12 seconds left i will disagree with the basic statement there's possibility to create more wealth to absorb the cost of the changes that we need we must stop opposing environment and creating wealth it may go together well this is the change that we have to do thank you sir thank you mercedes and now leaders we are moving on to our next theme reconciliation [Music] now we are going to our first time voter merrick mcleod in sault ste marie he's got a question to all the leaders merrick you're 18 years old you're a first-time voter what is your question to the leaders go ahead merrick the leaders are listening and the ojibwe culture trust and respect is key to any relationship oh shoot you got it merrick keep going how can i trust and respect the federal government after 150 plus years of lies and abuse to my people and as prime minister what will you do to rebuild the trust between first nations and the federal government thank you merrick leaders you've heard the question how do you respond to merrick mr trudeau you start this round thank you merrick for your question you're absolutely right over the past 150 years canada has failed in its relationship with indigenous peoples uh people who we should be working with and shared stewardship of the land working with in partnership as we draw from the bounty and the beauty of this land to build a better future for all that is why over the past six years we have stepped up on the path of reconciliation we have ended boil water advisories in 109 different communities we have made sure that tens of thousands of young people get to go to school in better classrooms we continue to move forward on fighting uh the the missing fighting for the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and ensuring a true partnership as we move forward in respect mr blanchard your question is quite moving i would say that no one is entitled to tell any nation what to do or what to think and that every nation has to be recognized as such either it is a nation of 300 people like there is in quebec or 8 million people nation like quebec is it calls for a relationship between equals it calls for a relationship in which nobody tells the other party that they are stronger bigger richer and therefore you will do as you are told even if we say it politely and first you provide clean water to everybody thank you mr blanchett miss paul yes and and thank you so much for for the question and and i i understand uh the the anguish in it as well because justice delayed is justice denied and coming from a diaspora myself where we have been robbed of our culture of our languages of our history i have no idea where my ancestors were born or where they're buried i completely understand how important this is and how frustrating it is not to have seen the action i am tired of being up on these stages without indigenous leadership here to speak for itself uh jody wilson raybould mumala kalaka i'm thinking of you right now and when mumulax said that without action that uh the parliament would be hollow she was right so indigenous sovereignty self-determination nation to nation engagement that is my commitment mr o'toole mr mcleod thank you for the question and the way you phrased it is so important reconciliation is about trust and respect and restoring it after a century and a half of a federal government failing that's why as opposition leader my first question when i rose in the house of commons was on a call to action on reconciliation with respect to indigenous health we need to build partnerships we need to restore trust and that trust is eroded when you make commitments on safe drinking water on reserve when you make commitments on the calls to action in the truth and reconciliation report and have no plan to fulfill them so i want to build partnerships and have indigenous leaders have governance over the federal government finally delivering on our commitment to indigenous peoples mr singh thank you very much merrick thank you for your question how to restore trust how do you restore trust when indigenous communities suffer injustice and it continues in an unbroken line to this very day how do you restore trust when you've got a prime minister that takes a knee one day and then takes indigenous kids to court the next and how do you restore trust in a country as wealthy as ours a g7 nation in the 21st century that still does not provide clean drinking water to every single indigenous nation it starts by actually walking the path of reconciliation not with the empty words but real action clean water nation to nation and respect okay thank you mr singh merrick did the leaders answer your question all right yeah all right thank you very much nick witch jimmy glitch mrs blanchette and o'toole it is your turn to debate now you've promised more money to search for unmarked graves but so much more needs to be done to achieve meaningful reconciliation mr blanchett you begin tell me how are you better positioned than mr o'toole to restore justice i am not better positioned than mr o'toole because i believe that this is a relationship between nations and you know your presence and nation i feel i represent another one and we are discussing with a lot of other nations but i will remind everybody that on the last day of the last session we add a motion adapted unanimously by the parliament and this motion was precisely saying what we had been told to carry by the first nation leaders and we added adopted this might be the way to do it many times the black quebecois said even if we don't agree with everything that we would share our seats and our voices in the parliament with the first nations in order to have them being heard by the whole country after the tragic finding of graves in kamloops cowassis and other former residential school sites we offered to work in a bipartisan fashion on calls to action 71-76 those are related to former residential school sites and we need to act faster i know mr trudeau cares a great deal about reconciliation i know we all do but this is a an issue where we have to act we can no longer say that we recognize the calls to action we need a plan to achieve them and what i'm proposing is a plan that builds partnerships that builds governance that has indigenous leaders incredible ones like jody wilson raybould to allow us to actually hold ourselves to account all all parties all future governments this is the big scar in the history of canada and we have to tackle it not just with good intentions but with a good plan to deliver for all indigenous people mr blush the prime minister has nominated governor general i don't know what translate that who speaks in uk which is great but does not speak french still he does not agree with the idea of acknowledging recognizing first nation languages as official languages in this country all right we will leave that segment there ms paul mr singh mr trudeau you're up tell me what is your plan to end the ongoing disproportionate violence against indigenous women and girls ms paul the first thing is to make space for indigenous leadership because you know we have done all these things and made all these promises we know what needs to be done the recommendations are there in the calls for justice and the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls report and yet we still don't have the action and so as i said before it should be jody up here uh answering that question that should be mummalat up here answering that question we need to make the space for indigenous leadership to guide this process and above all we need to make this a priority all that is left now is political will but that is exactly what we have been doing ms paul when we called the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls after years of governments avoiding doing that we ensured that we brought the truth forward and then we worked with indigenous leaders groups indigenous women's groups to co-develop the action plan that we are now fully funding so we can get justice for the victims healing for the families and put an end to this ongoing national tragedy it will take a lot of work by all of us but we are walking this road in partnership because we know it needs to be done and there is much more to do mr trudeau sadly and this i don't take any pleasure in this the calls to justice are out there and you haven't acted on them and i meant it when i said you can't take a knee one day if you're going to take indigenous kids to court the next that's not that's not leadership i'm not going to make that line about taking indigestion you in court leaders i would actually remind you the question is about violence against indigenous women and girls let me re-center you on that i appreciate it because he can't continue to say that that's making it and miss curl i will say again i i said this last night in the french debate this is why we need more diversity and politics this is why we need people to be who are most directly impacted by issues to be able to speak for themselves because we are drifting off into things we have only dedicated two minutes to talking about how we are going to bring true justice uh to indigenous women in this country if we could stick to the topic mr trump girl on this topic and it was brought up in the earlier one and we talked about indigenous women i want to talk about those kids buried in unmarked graves across the country because it was a tragedy for all canadians one long known by indigenous peoples but when i went to kaosis to speak with chief casmus delorme we not only grieved those kids we signed an agreement a landmark agreement to keep kids at risk in their communities to take them out of the provincial system that is how we move forward it took years to sign that agreement but we got it and we are empowering indigenous communities we're out of time mr singh i'm going to give you very brief moment to respond briefly we're over time we need to implement all the calls of justice we need to listen to indigenous women and girls we need to make sure that they're safe and we have the steps they've laid out that we need to follow all right thank you very much leaders now i'm really pleased to welcome melissa ridgeon of aptn news melissa is going to be asking you each a direct question on our theme of reconciliation your first question hi melissa is to mr blanchette over to you thank you all for being here it's a pleasure to be here with you to ask some questions for uh our aptn audience uh mr blush i'm gonna start with you you know numerous government reports including in quebec have sounded the alarm that uh systemic racism exists from joyce ashaquan dying as she's taunted and by hospital staff to policing the justice system what will you do as black leader to address systemic racism in your own province in quebec and also elsewhere in canada first never underestimate the weight the sadness of those dramas second i acknowledged i recognized the existence of systemic criticism in june 2020. and then what happened it became a political tool against quebec it became a tool to say quebec is this and that and racist and xenophobic and all of that instead of opening a discussion trying to find solution consulting experts discussing with the first nations themselves it became this white's a city against this other one white society we build nothing so the words became toxic i'm what are you absolutely open to the idea of discussing all of that on the quiet stage without this aggressivity aggress being aggressive as this debate has become all right mr blanchett we have to move on your next question melissa this question is for you ms paul you know canada has more children in government custody right now than at the height of residential schools new res uh new legislation child welfare legislation actually takes the onus on and puts it on the first nations communities to bring their kids back cleaning up the mess that canada has created essentially and those children are going to have to be brought back to all of those same problems that still exist that were the grounds for apprehension what would you do in the house of commons to make sure that poverty and trauma issues are addressed thank you very much for that question and and absolutely i we we mentioned that uh um not that long ago in one of our statements that the residential school system had been replaced by children in care and that this was just perpetuating the legacy of trauma it really comes back to what i said before which is that the indigenous leadership is there it is ready to guide all of these processes we have all of the recommendations we need what we are missing is political will what we are missing is those who have been in power for a very long time making space for new voices and diverse voices um i actually had to pull my job which just dropped when i heard what mr blanchett said i invited mr blanchette to get educated about systemic discrimination i extend that invitation again i would be happy to educate him it's nice to want to educate this is my time sir it is nice time to insult people that was not an insult it was an invitation to educate yourself uh this is leader direct questions melissa you're not mr blanche since i'm many minutes behind everybody else there should be some decency you haven't had every opportunity to share responsibility but something and i am fulfilling my responsibility sir melissa we're going to keep moving on is it my turn it is your turn thank you mr trudeau this is for you you know your liberal government has turned indian affairs into two separate massive bureaucracies that eat up large portions of funding that will never see it on to reserve that doesn't leave the bureaucracy uh you know you've promised clean drinking water but billions of dollars later that's not happened many still do not have clean drinking water you know canadians and indigenous people are losing patience with the lack of results from all of this spending so i guess the question is why would they believe you this a third term that they would get results and you would be accountable for all that spending one of the enemies of progressive politics melissa is cynicism is discounting the hard work that millions of people have been involved in over the past years and yes there's always more to do progressives always know there's more to do but when we came into office there were 105 long-term boil water advisories we lifted 109 of them and for each of the ones that are remaining we have a project lead a project uh team and an action plan and we're going to lift those all there are tens of thousands of kids across this country indigenous kids who've started the school year in new schools or refurbished schools we have moved forward on settling more agreements and more land claims and more partnerships than any other government over the years we continue to work in partnership and respect and invest more money in indigenous communities than any previous government i know we're not done yet i think i think the money i don't think anybody's questioning the money spent i think that they're questioning the results for the money that's spent uh my next questions to you mr singh uh you know federal forces including the rcmp and the department of fisheries and oceans have been used throughout canada's history to prevent first nations from exercising their treaty rights to fish and to hunt and to defend land and water this is happening right now on both coasts including under the ndp party in british columbia with regards to fishing and logging so my question would be to you uh as prime minister what would you do to ensure indigenous rights and title are finally respected in this country i really appreciate the question first of all we need to respect uh indigenous treaty land and rights uh that's a fundamental step towards walking the path of reconciliation in a real meaningful way but you mentioned the rcmp and i got to talk about uh the really sad reality that there's been violence heavy-handed violence against indigenous communities against peaceful protesters and we have long called i have long called for reform of policing when i was in the provincial level i fought against karting i've continued to use every platform i have to say we've got to stop the use of force we've got to overview it we've got to change the rcmp's mandate and that's something we can do at the federal level that's something that mr trudeau said he would do and yet has yet to do and it's something i'm committed to making sure it happens uh mr o'toole my question next question is for you you know you voted against the un declaration on the rights of indigenous people that would share decision-making power with

2021-09-11 18:32

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