Conservative leadership hopefuls face off in last debate before vote — without Kevin O’Leary

The remaining 13 candidates in the race to become the next permanent leader of the Conservative Party of Canada are taking part in the last leadership debate tonight in Toronto. 

Hours before the start of the bilingual debate, reality star and businessman Kevin O’Leary announced he was leaving the race because, he said, he would not be able to win enough seats in Quebec to unseat Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the next election. 

CBCNews.ca is live streaming the debate.

The debate format has been altered from past debates and has been divided into two sections. 

For the first section, the candidates were randomly placed into three groups, drawn live at the debate. Each candidate was given one minute to respond to a question and two 30-second rebuttals. 

• O’Leary drops out of Conservative leadership race
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In the first group were Deepak Obhrai, Brad Trost, Steven Blaney, Lisa Raitt and Andrew Saxton. They were asked why they wanted the job of Conservative Party leader.

Obhrai said he brought experience, knowledge and sensible solutions to the problems Canada faces. The long-serving MP said he had worked hard to bring new Canadians into the party and that going forward that effort had to be continued if Conservatives were going to return to power.

“Folks, we are going nowhere if we do not have the big blue boat,” he said.

Trost said he was a “full-spectrum, across the board Conservative” and that he could be counted on to fight for all members of the party.

Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong speaks during the Conservative Party of Canada leadership debate in Toronto Wednesday . (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Raitt began by thanking Rona Ambrose for doing a “phenomenal job of holding Justin Trudeau to account,” saying that effort has shown the Liberals can be beaten.

Raitt said she could bring stability and could beat Trudeau. Trost stood up and told members Raitt had done a good job and should be supported “after me.”

Saxton touted his plan to introduce an apprenticeship program, something he has mentioned in previous debates, saying that program is what is needed to get young people working again.  

Responding to Trudeau

The second group included Maxime Bernier, Andrew Scheer, Kellie Leitch and Rick Peterson. They were asked what the single biggest thing Trudeau has done to hurt Canadians since being elected.

Leitch said Trudeau had “misled” Canada on every account. The leadership hopeful said she had a plan for the economy that would reduce the debt, balance the budget, and would ensure that public servant salaries were the same as the private sector.

Bernier vs. Peterson

Peterson launched the first attack of the debate telling Bernier that while he had some had some good private sector ideas, he had never actually had to meet payroll.

Bernier responded by saying Peterson should read his resume because Bernier worked in the financial industry in Montreal for years and was prepared to bring that experience to government.

Scheer tried to answer the question directly, saying it was the “toughest question” he had to answer during the campaign because Trudeau had done so many things to hurt the country including “sleepwalking into a trade war” with the U.S. and running up the deficit.

Against a carbon tax

The third grouping included Pierre Lemieux, Michael Chong, Chris Alexander and Erin O’Toole.

Alexander said he wanted to help bring about a “new Canada” by encouraging investment in cutting edge industries of the future.

Chong, who began in French, pitched his plan to cut $18 billion in taxes from his first budget.

He also stood by his carbon tax idea saying, that unless the Conservatives had a “credible environment policy” they would never beat the Liberals.

Conservative leadership candidate Lisa Raitt speaks during the Conservative Party of Canada leadership debate in Toronto Wednesday. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Lemieux was quick to challenge Chong’s carbon tax playing, saying that if he is elected leader, and then prime minister, he would repeal any national carbon tax.

O’Toole said he would work with big business and craft regulations that would address climate change but would not jump on board with a carbon tax.

Alexander also said Canada could still protect the environment without a carbon tax.

Taking a shot at the absent Kevin O’Leary, O’Toole said that the race had finally become serious now that “Elvis had left the building.”

The final pitch

During the second section of the debate, all 13 candidates took the stage at once to make their final leadership pitches to the audience, with each candidate getting four 30-second rebuttals. 

Chong was first to go in the second half of the debate, saying that Bernier’s policies would result in cuts so deep that the Conservatives wouldn’t be able to defeat the Liberals. 

Trost said when the Conservatives tried to steal ground from the Liberals on social issues they don’t win.

Obhrai attacked the carbon tax, saying it was not Conservative to impose new taxes.

Bernier said the Conservative party had to “be ourselves” and speak about their values with passion and conviction. He promised to cut $30 billion in taxes each year, which would include a 15 per cent flat income tax rate and an end to corporate welfare. 

O’Toole attacked Bernier for his public letter praising Trump’s attacks on supply management in the dairy industry, saying you can’t sit on the same side of the table as the people you are negotiating with.

Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier speaks as Andrew Scheer and Kellie Leitch listen during the Conservative Party of Canada leadership debate in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

O’Toole promised that if he was elected leader, he would fight the U.S. for a fair deal on trade. He also said he was running for his children, who are five and ten-years-old, and would be older than him when the budget reached balance again.

Leitch used her final pitch to talk about a “shared set of Canadian values,” saying she would fight for those values, in part, by requiring all newcomers to Canada to undergo a face-to-face interview with immigration officials before being granted entry to Canada — something Leith says doesn’t happen often enough.

Raitt said she respected Leitch but did not respect her policy proposal making immigrants sit a Canadian values test before being granted citizenship.

Leitch replied by standing by her values test proposal, while Peterson used his rebuttal to reassure the audience that not everyone in the Conservative Party holds the view of immigration that Leitch does. 

Eligible to vote

The debate is being moderated by Susan McArthur, a Toronto financier who served on the party’s founding National Council. 

Recently released numbers from the Conservative Party reveal that 259,010 party members will be eligible to cast a ballot in the leadership contest, compared with the roughly 250,000 members who were eligible to vote in 2004.

Voting for the next Conservative leader opens on Friday. The winner will be announced on May 27 in Toronto.

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-last-leadership-debate-1.4086849?cmp=rss