‘You, sir, are not a change’: Party leaders target Carney in final election debate – National

Liberal Leader Mark Carney spent his first English election debate presenting himself as a safe pair of hands for a country in crisis — while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre sought to frame him as more of the same after a decade of Liberal government.

Carney, who is leading in the polls, became the main target of all his rivals’ attacks early in Thursday’s final debate of the election — a trend that carried over from Wednesday’s French language debate.

Poilievre repeatedly sought to draw a straight line from former prime minister Justin Trudeau and his policies to Carney, arguing he contributed to the “lost Liberal decade” by providing confidential advice to Trudeau on the economy.

“We need a change and you, sir, are not a change,” Poilievre said in one exchange.

At another point, Poilievre called on Carney to look into the camera and apologize to people who suffered from the “inflationary policies” that he purportedly advised Trudeau to implement.

Carney contended more than once that while Poilievre might wish he was running against Trudeau, he and the former prime minister are very different people.

“You spent years running against Justin Trudeau and the carbon tax,” Carney said. “They’re both gone, OK?”

Carney said he didn’t provide any of the advice that Poilievre accused him of giving to Trudeau, asked to be judged on his actions and pivoted to talk about his resume — citing his time as Bank of Canada governor during the 2008 global financial crisis and at the Bank of England afterward.

“Twice, I was a central bank governor, and in both cases … when I was responsible for inflation, inflation was less than two per cent,” he said. “When I was here, responsible for the Bank of Canada, inflation was less than two per cent, our dollar was at parity. That is the kind of success that I can deliver for this country coming on this crisis.”

Poilievre pointed to the large number of Trudeau-era ministers, MPs and advisers on Carney’s team.

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