Five takeaways from Canada’s Liberal Leadership Debates

After the back-to-back debate in both English and French, candidates have made voters their own case as the leader of the Liberal Party in Canada.

Card-holding Liberals will now select former Canadian governor and England Mark Carney, former Finance Minister Christia Freeland, House Government leader Kareena Gold and businessman and former MP Frank Bilis.

Anyone who wins the vote on March 9 will become the next Prime Minister of Canada and lead liberals in the upcoming general election, which should be held on or before October 20 this year.

One of the major attention to the debate is how Canada should respond to US President Donald Trump, who threatened to stand on a US northern neighbor and suggested that Canada has become a “51st state”.

There are five big takeaairs from two liberal leadership debate here.

Canada should answer that many people have dubbed “existence threats” from US President Donald Trump, which is uncertainly dominated the agenda in both debates.

Trump has said that he has planned to impose 25% tariff on all Canadian exports, with the exception of energy that will be targeted at 10% less – a step that economists say that prices increase prices for Americans Will be disastrous for Canada.

He has repeatedly proposed that the US should enacted Canada, which is combined with alarm and anger from a large swath of the Canada population.

A former top minister of serving during Trump’s first term, Freetland, deployed himself as an experienced negotiator who fought and won against the US President and his previous tariff.

But Carney warned that today’s trump was not a trump of the past. “He is more separatist. He is more aggressive,” Carney said. “He wanted our markets in the past. Now he wants our country.”

The youngest candidate, Gold, suggested that Canada should “put everything on the table” to protect its sovereignty “, and the federal government should help businesses to diversify their portfolio so that it can depend less on America .

Meanwhile, Biles said that Canada needs to have a close economic relationship with the UK, New Zealand and Australia, stating that all four shared values, culture and government systems were similar -ideology countries.

Trump’s dangers have been made more worrying than Canada’s current economic condition.

With the value of Canadian dollar, the country’s GDP has shrunk in the last one year, and Canadian people have voiced frustrations at high cost of living.

Carney – an economist – by trade – focused a lot of his message on this issue. He promised a plan that would balance Canada’s operational budget in three years and propose that Canada should reconsider how to spend his money.

But he has also noted his support for major liberal programs such as cheap childcare and dental care.

As former Finance Minister, Freeland defended its track record, stating that the country’s finance was still “very strong”. He said that Canada should face the dangers of Trump, using that speed to face Trump’s dangers and support Canadian industries and promote job development.

Biles attracted to his expertise as a businessman to say that Canada should work on the manufacture of its productivity.

On the other hand, Gold said that the Liberal Party should be “realistic with Canadians” and that it was not possible to balance the budget in three years without significant cuts, which they did not support. He said that Canada should focus on “modernization of its social security trap” to help those who struggle.

“We are facing extreme threats from the US, so we should be able to protect them in our people and our businesses,” Gold said.

Four candidates were arguing with each other, but they often presented a united front against their shared rival, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilavere, whose party is the most likely to form the next government of Canada as the most likely to be favored in elections Is.

Liberal Leadership Hopfools threw several jabs in polyvare during the entire debate. Gold called him a “small version of Trump at home”, while Freeland said Polyv wanted to “copy” Trump.

Carney criticized Polylv as a “non -individual” and said that Canada could “tolerate” him as Prime Minister.

Poidev, who enjoyed a major lead in the elections of an unpopular Trudeau, has had to pill the Canadian people since Trudeau’s resignation.

His message changed from the US to criticize the Prime Minister sitting to lead “Broken” Canada to put “Canada first” in front of the US. He has also shifted his attention to attack Carney, who is in favor of winning the Liberal leadership race.

Poilievre is still moving at the national level, but some elections suggest that the leadership between him and the liberals has shrunk since Trudeau’s exit.

Responding to transferring the US policy on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, all four candidates confirmed their commitment to continue the support of Canada for Ukraine.

All of them supported the need to hit their 2% military expenses for Canada to hit the target, as determined in their commitments to the NATO coalition, although they disagreed on the schedule and how to reach there.

Freeland said Canada should hit the target by 2027, and do so by investing in the “next generation war”. Biles and Carney have said that their plan will be to reach that target for Canada by 2030.

Both Freeland and Carney said that Canada needs to invest that money in Canadian military undertakings instead of America.

Freeland stated that Canada should reduce its dependence on the US, and should work with the European Union and other NATO partners on safety assurances.

A tax on carbon for consumers and businesses is the cornerstone of the Trudeau government’s policy on climate change.

But this tax has proved unpopular with Canadian people, forcing Carney and Freeland to promise that they will dig the policy.

Former United Nations Envoy Carney has long been proposed by Carbon Tax on Climate Action and Finance. In the debate, however, he admitted that consumers had become divisive, and said that instead he would focus on imposing taxes on large pollutants and increasing clean energy projects in Canada.

Freeland, who resigned from Trudeau’s government, as spending disagreeing with the Prime Minister, he said that history would favorable his climate action despite his policies. But that too, vowed to scrap carbon tax.

“Democracy is about listening to people, and Canadians were very clear with us that they did not think the policy works for them,” she said.

On the other hand, Gold and Biles said that they would place some versions of consumer tax on carbon, saying that fighting climate change comes with one price.