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The first televised leaders debate of the federal election will be held in Quebec tonight, and is likely to have an impact beyond the province in the continuing campaign.
TVA, a key Quebec network, is hosting the two-hour debate, which begins at 8 p.m. ET. The Cable Public Affairs Channel, better known as CPAC, will air a translated edition of the debate at 10 p.m. ET after it has aired on TVA.
Only leaders with at least one seat in Quebec are allowed to participate, which means the debaters will be the Bloc Quebecois’ Yves-Francois Blanchet, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh.
“It’s really a Quebec-centric debate,” Daniel Béland, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, said Thursday,
However, Mr. Béland said, in an interview, that the debate results will resonate across Canada.
“Most anglophones won’t be watching this debate, but they will hear about it, if they follow the news, if they watch television, if they read newspapers even if they are on social media like Twitter,” he aid.
Mr. Béland said the 2019 TVA debate was a “turning point” in the election.
He noted that Mr. Blanchet’s strong performance bolstered the fortunes of his party, and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s performance created challenges for his party because of his answers on abortion and medical assistance in dying.
Mr. Béland said he thinks Mr. O’Toole will probably be under the most pressure. “It’s his first [leaders] debate ever and it’s not his mother tongue,” he said.
But he added it could be “game over” for Mr. Trudeau if he does not deliver a performance that allows the Liberals to hold their own in Quebec seats. “They could make gains in Quebec which could offset some of the losses they are likely now to encounter in other parts of the country,” he said.
There are 78 seats in Quebec. At dissolution, the Liberals had 35 seats, the Bloc had 32 seats, the Conservatives had 10 and the NDP had one seat.
The Cable Public Affairs Channel, better known as CPAC, will air a translated edition of the debate at 10 p.m. ET after it has aired on TVA.
Other televised debates are looming. The Leaders’ Debates Commission has scheduled debates next week with a French debate on Sept. 8 and a Sept. 9 English debate.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
AFGHANISTAN AMBASSADOR TOOK TIME OFF DURING CRISIS – The Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan took time off in mid-July as Taliban militants were sweeping across the country and former Afghan employees of the embassy in Kabul were begging for help to get them and their families to safety in Canada.
LIBERALS RELEASE COSTED PLATFORM – The Liberal Party released a costed campaign platform on Wednesday detailing how a re-elected government would spend an additional $78-billion over five years – primarily in areas such as health care, housing and seniors – while targeting corporations and the wealthy for $25-billion in tax hikes.
SUZUKI ON GREEN PARTY WOES – David Suzuki broadens his election endorsements beyond the Green Party, telling the Tyee in British Columbia that one reason he is casting his net more broadly is that although “this is a moment when the Greens are desperately needed,” the party, in his view, has been “fatally weakened” by internal controversies made highly public. Story here.
HOW DOES MAIL-IN VOTING WORK – There’s a Globe and Mail primer here.
LEADERS
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, in Montreal, participates in the “Face-à-Face” TVA debate.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole, in Montreal, participates in the “Face-à-Face” TVA debate.
Campaign-Trail Commitment: In a media release, Mr. O’Toole promised a `Free Trade with Free Trade’ strategy that includes pursuing a Canada-Australia-New Zealand-United Kingdom agreement, and reviving free-trade talks with India.
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul holds a press conference on Afghanistan and Canada’s place in the world.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau participates in the “Face-à-Face” TVA debate.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Montreal, holds a media availability, and serves poutine in Préfontaine Park, and participates in the “Face-à-Face” TVA debate.
ELECTION SPOTLIGHT – YUKON
1 seat. At dissolution of Parliament: 1 Liberal
Rhiannon Klein, Chair and Instructor, Indigenous Governance Degree Program, Yukon University
“With only one federal electoral district covering the entire Yukon territory, this current election campaign is turning into quite a contentious and interesting race to observe. Yukon is home to approximately 43,000 people with an estimated 29,100 eligible voters. Since 2000, Liberal MP Larry Bagnell has served six out seven terms (Bagnell lost his seat to Conservative candidate Ryan Leef in 2011, winning it back again in 2015). Prior to Bagnell winning his seat in 2000, the Yukon was a federal NDP stronghold from 1987-2000.
“The 2021 federal election campaign has started out much differently. In July 2021, Jonas Smith was named the Conservative Party candidate. Smith lost to Bagnell in 2019 by only 153 votes with a 72 per cent voter turnout. On Aug. 5, Bagnell caught everyone by surprise when he announced he would not be seeking re-election. Further to everyone’s surprise, the Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), Dr. Brendan Hanley, announced he had been named the Liberal candidate. This announcement has come with several strong criticisms and questions around the politicization of the CMOH role and whether it was appropriate for him to run. Only two days after the federal election was called, another big surprise came when the Conservative Party announced they were dropping Jonas Smith as their candidate because of his public opposition to supporting public health guidelines, predominantly vaccine mandates and passports. Smith decided he would stay in the race, running as an independent candidate.
“Shortly after Smith was dropped, Barbara Dunlop, long-time Yukoner and retired public servant, was named the Conservative candidate. The NDP announced their candidate, Lisa Vollans-Leduc, a Yukon Government policy analysist. The Green Party announced Lenore Morris, a lawyer and business owner, would be running again, though she would be absent for the first two weeks of the campaign. Morris ran previously in the 2019 election. With six candidates running for one seat in an electoral district that has previously been won by less than a percentage point, it could really be anyone’s seat to win at this point! Some of the key issues being highlighted so far on the campaign trail include climate change, reconciliation, housing, and economic recovery. It is difficult to know how people are going to vote this time around- will it be partisan-based, issue-based, or strategical – one thing is for sure: Yukon will have a new Member of Parliament this Fall who will have to represent many different political viewpoints.”
PUBLIC OPINION
Together with CTV and Nanos Research, The Globe and Mail is doing daily surveys to track which party and leader Canadians prefer. Check here for the latest results.
OPINION
The Editorial Board of the Globe and Mail on the better-late-than-never U-turn Premier Doug Ford just did on vaccine passports: “Mr. Ford’s reversal is belated, and it will rely on easily faked printouts of vaccine receipts until Oct. 22, when the province says the secure passport it’s working on will be available. But it is nonetheless welcome. Ontario is the fourth province, after Manitoba, British Columbia and Quebec, to bring in a vaccine passport – a tool this page has long argued is critical to raising Canada’s vaccination rate, thereby minimizing the impact of the fourth wave.”
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail)on how the Liberals are intent on vaccine-wedge politics: “The Liberal platform had thousands of words and hundreds of promises to spend $78-billion, but at the press conference to unveil it, Justin Trudeau kept talking about a single paragraph tucked away on Page 51. That’s the passage that outlines the Liberals’ promise of protection from lawsuits for companies that require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. It’s the next step in Mr. Trudeau’s increasingly strident support for vaccination requirements: promising federal protection to companies that demand their employees get the jab. “Making sure workplaces can keep themselves and their employees safe,” in the Liberal Leader’s words.”
Dan Lett (The Winnipeg Free Press)on Manitoba’s new “reluctant” Premier, Kevin Goertzen: “Goertzen made no bones Wednesday about the fact that he was going to be different — much different — than the last guy. For nearly an hour, Goertzen took questions from reporters and provided elegant, confident and — most importantly — credible answers. He did not attack anyone, did not blame anybody else for his government’s mistakes and never once used political hyperbole to claim some sort of hollow victory. In other words, in his very first public appearance as Premier, he was everything that Pallister was not over five years. You could tell that Goertzen was leaning into the contrast that was materializing between him and Pallister. He talked about the importance of projecting calm and respect while avoiding “conflict and animosity.”
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PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.
Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.
“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.
Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”
The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”
Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”
The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.
In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.
Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.
In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.
A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.
In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.
But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.
“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.
Americans and Canadians are cousins that is true. Allies today but long ago people were at loggerheads mostly because of the British Empire and American ambitions.
Canadians appreciate our cousins down south enough to visit them many millions of times over the year. America is Canada’s largest and most important trading partner. As a manufacturer, I can attest to this personally. My American clients have allowed our firm to grow and prosper over the past few decades. There is a problem we have been seeing, a problem where nationalism, both political and economic has been creating a roadblock to our trade relationship.
Both Democrats and Republicans have shown a willingness to play the “buy only American Made product” card, a sounding board for all things isolationist, nationalistic and small-mindedness. We all live on this small planet, and purchase items made from all over the world. Preferences as to what to buy and where it is made are personal choices, never should they become a platform of national pride and thuggery. This has brought fear into the hearts of many Canadians who manufacture for and service the American Economy in some way. This fear will be apparent when the election is over next week.
Canadians are not enemies of America, but allies and friends with a long tradition of supporting our cousins back when bad sh*t happens. We have had enough of the American claim that they want free trade, only to realize that they do so long as it is to their benefit. Tariffs, and undue regulations applied to exporters into America are applied, yet American industry complains when other nations do the very same to them. Seriously! Democrats have said they would place a preference upon doing business with American firms before foreign ones, and Republicans wish to tariff many foreign nations into oblivion. Rhetoric perhaps, but we need to take these threats seriously. As to you the repercussions that will come should America close its doors to us.
Tit for tat neighbors. Tariff for tariff, true selfish competition with no fear of the American Giant. Do you want to build homes in America? Over 33% of all wood comes from Canada. Tit for tat. Canada’s mineral wealth can be sold to others and place preference upon the highest bidder always. You know who will win there don’t you America, the deep-pocketed Chinese.
Reshaping our alliances with others. If America responds as has been threatened, Canadians will find ways to entertain themselves elsewhere. Imagine no Canadian dollars flowing into the Northern States, Florida or California? The Big Apple without its friendly Maple Syrup dip. Canadians will realize just how significant their spending is to America and use it to our benefit, not theirs.
Clearly we will know if you prefer Canadian friendship to Donald Trumps Bravado.
China, Saudi Arabia & Russia are not your friends in America. Canada, Japan, Taiwan the EU and many other nations most definitely are. Stop playing politics, and carry out business in an unethical fashion. Treat allies as they should be treated.
