OTTAWA -- In the first and only English-language Conservative leadership debate -- a debate that felt more like one in the midst of a federal election campaign -- the four contenders took to the stage and quickly shifted their focus from each other to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It was a stark contrast from Wednesday night鈥檚 French-language debate that saw lively face-offs mainly between Erin O鈥橳oole and Peter MacKay. Derek Sloan and Leslyn Lewis both played more active roles, given language wasn鈥檛 a barrier on Thursday.
The candidates agreed "unity" was a key priority for the party and that all Conservatives -- whether 鈥渟ocial conservatives, progressive conservatives, Libertarians, or fiscal conservatives,鈥� as Lewis said -- have a place under the Tory tent.
LIBERAL RESPONSE TO COVID-19
They were most aligned in their critiques of the Liberal government鈥檚 handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and their reliance on the World Health Organization before and during the spread of the virus on Canadian soil.
"Two years ago I asked Justin Trudeau about Chinese manipulation of the World Health Organization. They were excluding Taiwan and other countries from pandemic planning. Two years ago we were demanding Trudeau get prepared, he was not. In fact he sent masks and PPE to China as his own officials were telling him there was a crisis descending upon Canada," said O鈥橳oole.
"It鈥檚 the highest order of failed leadership I鈥檝e seen in my lifetime."
MacKay said Trudeau failed on implementing necessary travel restrictions and not securing enough personal protective equipment for Canadians. He also ridiculed his decision to halt regular parliamentary sittings and instead hold a special COVID-19 committee.
"What would have been done different under a Conservative government based on everything you鈥檝e heard here tells me again that we shouldn鈥檛 have closed Parliament. Justin Trudeau shouldn鈥檛 have tried to avoid accountability but that day is coming," said MacKay.
"Let鈥檚 never forget SARS, H1N1, we should have absolutely been stockpiling and preparing for this."
He added that on the planes back from China, filled with personal protective equipment, should have been the two Canadians -- Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig -- who鈥檝e been detained in a Chinese prison for more than 500 days.
Sloan, for his part, said the government should have taken the virus more seriously and took a jab at the federal government for not initially thanking by name Taiwan for a shipment of masks.
"We had a government who at first thought there was no danger at all, in regards to COVID-19, they listened to every single thing the World Health Organization said which we now know is compromised by Communist China," said Sloan.
"I鈥檓 glad that we can say the word Taiwan, I know everyone here will do that, unlike some of the Liberal Party. Taiwan of course took steps very early on to stop travel from affected areas."
However, Trudeau did ultimately thank the island nation, after his foreign affairs minister dodged questions about it.
Lewis said a "costed-impact assessment" should have been done earlier on to predict costs of aid so future generations aren't "saddled" with debt.
She agreed with MacKay that travel should have been shut down earlier and condemned the Liberal government for their early statements that calls to restrict travel specifically from China were racially-motivated.
SYSTEMIC RACISM
On another timely issue, the candidates pointed fingers yet again at Trudeau for his response thus far to the anti- racism demonstrations and the recent discussions on systemic racism in the country.
Lewis, who is the only visible minority of the group, said the prime minister鈥檚 symbolic gesture to take a knee during the anti-Black racism demonstrations in Ottawa two weeks ago wasn't followed up with clear action.
"The prime minister took a knee, and he is the prime minister, so he has the ability to make substantive changes. Taking a knee is just a symbol. If he wants to do something about making this country a better place, he can do it. I think it鈥檚 very, very important we have realistic, real changes."
O鈥橳oole echoed this statement.
"Justin Trudeau will do symbolic gestures like taking a name of a father of confederation off a building but then the next day cancel a pipeline that dozens of Indigenous bands were planning on employment and wealth creation for their people," he said.
"He is not leadership, he needs to show a substantive commitment."
Peering down at his notes, MacKay acknowledged the existence of systemic racism in Canada, and said as prime minister he would take the first step of listening and follow it up with concrete change.
"We have lessons that can be taught at home, in our schools, in the public square,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have a prime minister who did blackface, he鈥檚 not well situated to lead the country in a way that鈥檚 going to address these issues in a real way."
He suggests having more representation of visible minorities in the police force.
While Sloan agreed racism exists in Canada, he denied Canada is a "racist country."
All candidates said the calls to defund police forces, which have made waves across the country amid the ongoing protests, is the wrong approach to eliminate racism and protect communities.
SOCIAL CONSERVATISM
Social conservative issues like abortion and LGTBQ rights remained hot topics as they were Wednesday evening, but were mainly addressed by the two self-identified social conservatives in Sloan and Lewis.
Branding himself as "conservative without apology," Sloan said Tories can gain ground on these policies as Liberals are too "radically left."
"Many new Canadians are social conservatives. They don't believe that there鈥檚 72 or 102 genders, they don鈥檛 want their kids to be confused and remember when Stephen Harper cut funding for foreign abortions we won a majority after that," he said.
Lewis leaned more on the argument of unifying all views, while not singling out controversial or more traditional perspectives.
"I saw that there was a potential that social conservatives would be ousted from the party and I think it鈥檚 very important that we recognize with traditional values, people with religious values, that all of these parts are important to our great democracy,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 would uphold all of these views within our party."
On abortion, Sloan said "it鈥檚 out of whack" that Canada doesn鈥檛 have any laws governing abortion. Lewis doubled down on her campaign promise to ban sex-selective abortion.
TRADE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
O鈥橳oole took the first jab at Trudeau on trade saying his government failed in their renegotiation of NAFTA.
"We all remember when the Trudeau government suggested they鈥檇 be open to reopening NAFTA when the new U.S. administration was looking at concerns with Mexico. They then put forward the so-called progressive agenda where Mr. Trudeau put his election platform, things like climate change and reconciliation into trade negotiations with the U.S.," he said.
O鈥橳oole pointed to his previous experience serving in uniform as a mechanism to forge strong relationships with representatives in Washington. MacKay also touted his previous experience as cabinet minister in the Harper government, which he said involved many trips down to Capitol Hill and would help facilitate future meetings.
He noted the new NAFTA has left Canada "poorer" than it was going into negotiations.
"When Chrystia Freeland and the prime minister said it was going to be a 鈥榳in-win,鈥� win it was -- for the United States,鈥� he said. 鈥淭o get things done you have to take an approach that isn鈥檛 insulting, isn鈥檛 confrontational, that isn鈥檛 seen as speaking behind someone鈥檚 back on the world stage as we saw Mr. Trudeau do."
Sloan agreed with MacKay that Trudeau acted like "an absolute child" on the world stage, yet again referring to an incident at Buckingham Palace in London last December when the prime minister was filmed unknowingly joking about the U.S. president with other world leaders.
"Donald Trump will not lift a finger to help Justin Trudeau because of what he鈥檚 done. We need to take our closest allies seriously, we need to forge an excellent relationship with them," he said.
"I鈥檒l go so far as to say I am confident that Donald Trump will defy the odds again and be the next administration and when I am leader of the Conservative Party I will give him call and congratulate him."
Lewis said good foreign policy starts at home and it鈥檚 time Canada identify the key values it wants to project on the world stage.
"We need to get our own house in order first. We have to look at the top threats to our national security. We have to look at our Canadian identity, our sovereignty, our economy, our fundamental democratic values."
She said restoring the relationship with the U.S. should be a top priority.
Moderated by former Conservative MP, Deputy Party Leader and Conservative Party leadership organizing committee co-chair Lisa Raitt, and hosted in Toronto in a physically-distanced manner to abide by COVID-19 public health concerns, the debate was the final meet-up of the four leadership hopefuls before the August 21 deadline for mail-in ballots.
The candidates will use any momentum gained on stage tonight to push them through the final stretch of the campaign.
