Toronto (Macleans/Rogers) – The four main party leaders will square off Thursday (5PM PT) in the first debate of the federal election campaign.
The nationally-televised debate in Toronto, hosted by Maclean’s magazine, will be the first opportunity for four of the five leaders to go head-to-head on a number of key issues, particularly the sputtering Canadian economy.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau will be taking part in the debate. Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe won’t be attending.
The two-hour debate will be recorded in Toronto studio and air live, commercial-free and with closed captioning, on City TV Vancouver and in other languages on OMNI TV.
It will also stream live at Macleans.ca, CPAC.ca, Facebook, YouTube, and from Vancouver – News1130.com.
The leaders will face off on four main topics: the economy, energy and the environment, the state of democracy, and foreign policy and national security.
The host is Maclean’s political editor Paul Wells. The magazine asked you, who you think has the most to gain from Thursday’s debate and here’s what you said:
Stephen Harper: 16 per cent
Thomas Mulcair: 30 per cent
Justin Trudeau: 41 per cent
Elizabeth May: 13 per cent
