Second French debate cancelled after Carney refuses to participate
Posted March 25, 2025 10:28 am.
Last Updated March 25, 2025 3:31 pm.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s second day of campaigning was marked by the announcement that he would not participate in TVA’s “Face-à-Face,” effectively canceling the second debate in French.
Carney rejected claims he was avoiding scrutiny over his French, and said his decision was based on the fact that Green Party’s co-leaders would not be included.
The Conservatives, Bloc Québécois and New Democrats , which all agreed to participate in the debate, strongly deplored the Liberals’ decision not to take part.
“The Liberals want to be re-elected for a 4th term, but their leader is too afraid to debate me in French,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote on X. “If Mark Carney is too fragile to debate other leaders, how can he stand up to Donald Trump?”
Poilievre later said the Conservatives were willing to foot the bill to get Carney to debate.
An insult to Quebecers?
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet called it an affront to the province.
“He doesn’t care about Quebec, he’s not interested in Quebec, or he’s afraid to come and talk to Quebecers,” Blanchet said.
Some Montrealers who spoke to CityNews agreed it could be construed as an insult towards Quebec.
“It looks like he doesn’t have the French Language at heart,” one person said.
“It’s a bad start to his campaign in Quebec because there’s a French-speaking part of Canada, and I think it’s an insult to the French-speaking people of Quebec,” said another. “I’m convinced it’s because of his French, he’s not at ease with the French language, so debating like this with French speakers is probably difficult for him.”
Carney was on the defensive Tuesday. “During my leadership campaign I spent more time in Quebec than in any other province. I’m going there in two days,” he said of the anti-Quebec accusations.
The Liberal leader then switched to French mid-answer. “I’m committed,” he said. “I’m involved in major issues for Quebec, like culture, the French language, supply management and other issues unique to Quebec.”
In order to take part in the now-cancelled second French debate, the parties needed to pay $75,000 to the TVA Group, supposedly to help cover production costs.
That’s peculiar, according to a longtime political commentator in Quebec.
“It is surprising because TVA actually made a profit in the last quarter of $2.6 million,” said Patrick White, a journalism professor at UQAM’s École des Médias. “Quebecor (TVA’s parent company) is approaching $900 million of net profit each year on average.
“I don’t see a major backlash from this refusal to be part of the debate because it’s easy to understand that a political party would not want to set a precedent by paying cash.”
Carney will participate in the two debates in Montreal organized by the Leaders’ Debates Commission. The first will be held in French on April 16 at 8 p.m. The second will take place in English on April 17 at 7 p.m.
“I look forward to those debates,” Carney said Tuesday.
“I’m very much out in the open. I’m not hiding,” Carney said, again switching from English to French midway through his answer.
Both debates will be streamed live on CityNews 24/7. OMNI TV will be translating both debates in six languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi, Tagalog, Arabic, Italian). They will air on OMNI TV and will also be livestreamed on the OMNI website.
“He’ll be taking part in the Radio-Canada debate, so we can just listen to that one,” one Montrealer said.
Eleni Bakopanos, a former liberal MP who’s not involved with the Carney campaign, says debate prep is grueling.
“We’re talking about millions of people that Mr. Carney has to get to and convince that he is the leader for our times,” the political analyst said. “So you can’t afford to have one mistake.
“And no one’s hiding the fact that his French is not as good as the other leaders. It’s tiring. And if you’re tired, if you try to speak in a language that is not your own language, the likelihood of making a mistake is even higher.”
