Face of Nation : The three opposition politicians in the Macleans/Citytv federal leaders’ debate tonight had plenty to divide them, but they were united in condemning Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s decision to skip the first debate of the election campaign. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May all accused Trudeau of not having the courage defend his record.
“I think I’ve found some consensus. I think we can all agree that Justin Trudeau is afraid of his record and that’s why he’s not here tonight. He has made life more expensive and mismanaged the economy,” said Scheer.
Singh and May both agreed with Scheer, but that unity vanished when Scheer challenged them to explain how they will pay for the national pharmacare programs their parties have promised.
Scheer said 95 per cent of people are already eligible for coverage and the federal government should focus on helping those who fall through the cracks, rather than rolling out an expensive universal drug program.
“You cannot increase health-care services when you are paying more and more money to pay the service charges on the debt and that is what all these plans will lead to,” said Scheer. “Every dollar that goes to a bond-holder or banker for the debt that they hold is another dollar that can’t be used to expand those services.”
Singh promised to bring universal pharmacare in within a year and to fund it by closing offshore tax havens, increasing taxes on the rich and closing income tax loopholes. May said a pharmacare program is essential and could be funded by increasing corporate taxes.
The federal government was last week ordered to pay potentially billions of dollars in compensation to First Nations children who were harmed by the on-reserve child welfare system. The leaders were asked if they would appeal that ruling. Both Singh and May said they would not.
Singh took Scheer to task for not saying he would accept the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling, which also called for payments to some parents and grandparents. “It’s essential that the outcome of this type of decision actually gets the kinds of resources to the people that need it the most,” said Scheer.
“I didn’t hear if you would accept the ruling or not. This is Indigenous kids that are not getting equal funding,” said Singh. “Mr Trudeau certainly hasn’t listened to rulings in the past, he’s appealed four or five times previous rulings.
