rival Andrew Scheer<\/a>\u00a0had called for O’Leary to get into the race before the French-language debate. But\u00a0O’Leary, who speaks little French, recently put out a statement saying that “out of respect for Quebec and French-Canadians, I feel it makes more sense to abstain from the French debate until I am more proficient.”<\/p>\nOpening statements focus on importance of French language<\/h2>\n
The crowd was clearly partial to the two local candidates \u2014 the loudest applause came when Bernier and Blaney were introduced, while polite applause greeted the 11 other non-Quebec contestants.<\/p>\n
Trying to connect with Quebecers was a common theme in many of the candidates’ opening statements, which emphasized the importance of the French language and each candidate’s connection with Quebec.<\/p>\n
![\"CONSERVATIVE](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/9ad42_conservative-french-debate-20170117.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Leadership candidate Steven Blaney, right, speaks during the Conservative Party French language leadership debate, Tuesday, January 17, 2017 in Quebec City. Lisa Raitt, centre, looks on. (Jacques Boissinot\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
Michael Chong, who had resigned from Stephen Harper’s cabinet in 2006 over the Conservative government’s Quebec nation motion, promised to “defend the French fact in North America,” while Kellie Leitch laid out how she was taking French-language classes and hoped to improve.<\/p>\n
Blaney also took the opportunity to congratulate his rivals on the efforts being made to speak French.<\/p>\n
Bernier the early target of attacks<\/h2>\n
Many of the candidates used their 30-second rebuttals early, with Leitch and Blaney both going after Bernier for his position on ending corporate welfare, something they argued Bernier had given out when he was a cabinet minister.<\/p>\n
Leitch called Bernier a “liar and an impostor.”<\/p>\n
Both Blaney and Pierre Lemieux also went after Bernier on his pledge to end supply management. Bernier riposted by saying supply management was defended by a powerful interest group, but that he was looking out for the interests of Canadians.<\/p>\n
Erin O’Toole then deplored the attacks happening among Conservatives \u2014 as he has already done in this campaign \u2014 a position that was\u00a0seconded by Chong.<\/p>\n
50 seconds or less<\/h2>\n
\nThe debate is being moderated by\u00a0Pascale\u00a0D\u00e9ry, a former journalist and news anchor who\u00a0ran unsuccessfully under the Conservative banner in the last election.<\/p>\n
Each candidate will make a 30-second opening statement in an order that was set by a random draw. Candidates will then have a chance to answer every question in 50\u00a0seconds or less.<\/p>\n
The question topics are “government and taxes” and “national security and defence.” Four questions will also be asked by Conservative Party supporters, and candidates will have the opportunity to make two 30-second rebuttals.<\/p>\n
Here are the participating candidates in order of\u00a0podium position and opening remarks:<\/p>\n
\n- Chris Alexander.<\/li>\n
- Deepak Obhrai.<\/li>\n
- Michael Chong.<\/li>\n
- Erin O’Toole.<\/li>\n
- Kellie Leitch.<\/li>\n
- Andrew Scheer.<\/li>\n
- Pierre Lemieux.<\/li>\n
- Maxime Bernier.<\/li>\n
- Lisa Raitt.<\/li>\n
- Steven Blaney.<\/li>\n
- Rick Peterson.<\/li>\n
- Brad Trost.<\/li>\n
- Andrew Saxton.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The winner of the Conservative leadership vote will be announced on May 27.<\/p>\n
\nArticle source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/french-debate-conservative-leadership-1.3939492?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The third debate of\u00a0the Conservative leadership campaign, and the only official debate to be held entirely in French, is taking place in\u00a0Quebec City tonight and might\u00a0prove to be a serious challenge to the French-language skills of some of the 13 contestants taking part. CBCNews.ca is carrying the French-language debate live, without translation, starting at 6:30 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-63651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}