The Globe and Mail - 13.09.2019

A6 ELECTION2019 OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | FRIDAY,SEPTEMBER13,

While Jagmeet Singh and Elizabeth May

fought for the title of Chief Progressive

Alternative at the first leaders’ debate

of this election campaign, Andrew

Scheer focused on the phantom men-

ace who wasn’t even in the room.

The Maclean’s/Citytv national lead-

ers’ debate, Thursday night, was de-

fined by who wasn’t there: Liberal

Leader Justin Trudeau. And the NDP,

Green and Conservative Leaders were

happy to make sport of his absence.

“I think we can all agree that Justin

Trudeau is afraid of his record and

that’s why he’s not here tonight,” Mr.

Scheer declared.

To which Ms. May proposed, “We can

now sing Kumbaya and keep going.”

Mr. Singh and Ms. May spent much of

their time trying to prove they should

be the first choice for progressive voters

disenchanted with the Liberal record.

In that contest, Mr. Singh delivered a

surprisingly assured performance. Over

and over he lambasted both Liberal and

Conservative tax cuts “that make life

easier for the richest and harder for ev-

eryone else.”

He rarely took on Ms. May directly –

the exception being a four-point take-

down of Green positions that left Ms.

May sputtering in anger – preferring to

treat Mr. Scheer as a surrogate for Mr.

Trudeau.

The NDP may be struggling, but Mr.

Singh offered a poised and pointed per-

formance. Pundits keep predicting di-

saster for rookie political leaders in de-

bates. Mr. Trudeau proved them wrong

in 2015, and Mr. Singh did better than

many predicted Thursday night.

For generations, NDP leaders have

conflated their Liberal and Conserva-

tive opponents as identical lackeys of

the established order: Tweedledee and

Tweedledum. Mr. Singh has happily em-

braced the trope. In that sense, it didn’t

really matter whether Mr. Trudeau was

there or not.

Ms. May showed the easy confidence

of a leader who has been on similar

stages umpteen times, as she once

again urged voters to consider the

Greens’ aggressive environmental pol-

icies.

“We can’t stick to status quo deci-

sion-making and save ourselves at the

same time,” she maintained.

But the Green Leader could be con-

descending to the other rookie leaders.

And she has some very strange propos-

als, such as forcing SNC-Lavalin, the en-

gineering giant charged with corrupt of-

fences, to provide drinking water on re-

serves.

And this viewer had never before

heard her response to Bill 21, the Que-

bec legislation banning many public

servants from wearing religious sym-

bols on the job. Ms. May would have the

federalgovernment find work for Que-

beckers forced to leave the province as

a result.

For his part, Mr. Scheer spent most of

his time running down the Liberal re-

cord.

“We’ve seen what long-term, perma-

nent deficits have done to this country

in the past,” he observed. As for the

others onstage, he did his best to pre-

tend they weren’t even there.

Mr. Trudeau decided to skip the Ma-

clean’s debate, and another on foreign

policy hosted by the Munk Centre,

choosing to limit himself to the two of-

ficial debates, one in English and one in

French, plus a second French-language

debate hosted by TVA. The Liberal

Leader is pursuing the classic front-run-

ner strategy of limiting public appear-

ances in order to avoid the risk of a

misstep.

The only problem with that ap-

proach is most polls show Mr. Trudeau

tied with Mr. Scheer. He is trying to pro-

tect a non-existent lead. The decision

was especially risky since it gave Mr.

Scheer and Mr. Singh a low-risk chance

to get their feet wet, a dress rehearsal

for the debates with Mr. Trudeau to

come.

It was a wonkish night, even for

wonks. Ms. May had a tendency to dom-

inate debate on such complex issues as

whether the Indigenous right to consul-

tation was the equivalent of a veto on

resource projects.

She and Mr. Singh debated under

which circumstances they might prop

up a Liberal or Conservative minority

government. (Ms. May would support

whichever party committed to her car-

bon reduction target. Mr. Singh

wouldn’t support the Conservatives un-

der any circumstances.)

Moderator Paul Wells ended one sec-

tion by saying, “That concludes, you

may be relieved to hear, our discussion

of environmental issues.”

This debate occurs in the very first

week of this election campaign. In fu-

ture encounters, Mr. Singh might find

himself challenged – not least by Mr.

Trudeau when he finally appears. But

when the histories are written, the real

issue will be whether the Liberals were

wise or foolish to skip this debate. We’ll

see.

Byskippingfirst

debate,Trudeau

givesrivalschance

atwarm-upround

JOHN

IBBITSON

OPINION

buying a house valued at no more than

$505,000, but the Liberals are vowing to

expand that limit to $789,000 for

buyers in Victoria, Vancouver and To-

ronto. The upper limit on household

income to qualify will rise to $150,

in the three targeted cities, the Liberal

announcement said, but the amount of

total government spending on the pro-

gram would remain the same. The

changes would allow those who qualify

for the subsdies to take on much higher

mortgage debt.

Thursday’s announcement was a

sign of the party trying to address the

“millennial angst” of those who feel

priced out of the real estate market.

“This is more acute

among Canadians living

in suburban Canada, in ar-

eas like the 905, which are

key bellwether clusters of

ridings that are critical to

all the federal political

parties,” Mr. Nanos said,

referring to the region of

suburban seats around

Toronto.

Benjamin Tal, deputy

chief economist at CIBC

World Markets Inc., said

the changes will have

some impact in the three

cities, but CMHC designed

the program to help peo-

ple who are “at the mar-

gins” of home affordability to ensure

there would not be broad market stim-

ulus.

He said the program changes are un-

likely to stimulate significant price

growth in the three markets because

the overall national spending commit-

ment will stay at $1.25-billion over three

years, which adds up to less than 0.3 per

cent of new mortgages originated in

Canada annually.

Paul Taylor, chief executive officer of

Mortgage Professionals Canada, which

represents the mortgage-lending indus-

try, said the expanded price limit was

necessary because most buyers in the

three affected markets would have

been shut out of using it otherwise.

B.C. Finance Minister Carole James

said Thursday the province’s tax on real

estate speculation and empty proper-

ties generated $58-million in revenue

last year.

Mr. Tal said a national vacant home

Justin Trudeau says a Liberalgovern-
ment would expand its new first-time
home buyer program to boost afforda-
bility in major centres, a move designed
to appeal to young voters but expected
to have little impact on the overall real
estate market.
In an announcement at a townhouse
development in Victoria on Thursday,
Mr. Trudeau also unveiled a 1-per-cent
tax on non-Canadians who leave their
homes in Canada empty while living
abroad. The annual tax would apply na-
tionally, and would come in addition to
any other municipal taxes home buyers
pay in cities such as Vancouver.
Mr. Trudeau said he is modelling his
proposal on a British Columbia tax on
vacant homes that he said has damp-
ened speculation. “That is why we feel
it is important to create a national mea-
sure right across the country based on
B.C.’s success with it to ensure that for-
eign speculation doesn’t make housing
less affordable for Canadians who, as
we know, are looking for places to live,”
Mr. Trudeau said.
Young, middle-class voters in major
urban areas are a key focus for the Lib-
eral Party, said Nik Nanos, the founder
and chief data scientist at Nanos Re-
search.
Elections Canada data show 57.1 per
cent of Canadians aged 18 to 24 voted in
the last election, up from just 38.8 per
cent in 2011, and Nanos Research sur-
veys conducted in the days before the
2015 vote suggested Liberals enjoyed
the biggest support among the young-
est cohort of voter.
The centrepiece of the policy an-
nouncement Thursday was a plan to
expand the first-time home buyer pro-
gram, introduced in this year’s federal
budget. It provides interest-free funds
to cover up to 10 per cent of the down
payment for first time buyers whose
household income does not exceed
$120,000. Canada Mortgage and Hous-
ing Corp., which runs the program,
takes an ownership stake in the home
in return for providing the interest-free
funds and shares in future price appre-
ciation until the amount is repaid.
The program, which launches this
month, currently applies only to people

tax is unlikely to drive prices much low-

er because the greatest issue with va-

cant homes was in Vancouver, which

has already curbed a lot of foreign-

buyer demand. The issue is smaller in

Toronto, he said, and almost non-exist-

ent in most other parts of the country.

Mr. Trudeau’s announcement came

the same day industry associations rep-

resenting real estate agents across Can-

ada issued a call for federal political

parties to promise to change the stress

test that has made it harder to borrow

for a new home.

Real estate associations in Toronto,

Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Quebec

and Nova Scotia issued a statement that

said it should be adjusted

so it takes into account its

impact on different real

estate markets across the

country.

“A lot of the reason the

stress test was put in was

to slow markets and sort

of control a market peo-

ple thought was a little

overheated, and quite

frankly there are a lot of

spots in the country that

are not like that,” said Mi-

chael Collins, president of

the Toronto Real Estate

Board.

The Conservative Party

has not yet released a de-

tailed platform on housing issues, but

Tory Leader Andrew Scheer has said

previously that he would review the

stress test and would not require peo-

ple renewing existing mortgages to

qualify under the stress-test rules if

they are switching to a new lender.

The NDP has not pledged to change

the stress test, but has promised to ex-

pand the mortgage amortizations to 30

years for first-time home buyers. The

party’s housing platform, released earli-

er this year, also includes a pledge to

create a national foreign buyer’s tax on

the sale of homes to people who are

not Canadian citizens or permanent

residents. The Green Party has yet to

announce a platform, but has empha-

sized helping the homeless and imple-

menting “a National Housing Strategy

to provide every Canadian with a place

to call home.”

With a report from Chris Hannay

Liberalstargetmillennialswith

expandedhomebuyersubsidies

MICHELLEZILIOVANCOUVER
JANETMcFARLANDTORONTO

Mr. Trudeau’s

announcement came

the same day

industry associations

representing real

estate agents across

Canada issued a call

for federal political

parties to promise

to change the

stress test.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer
pushed back against aggressive attacks
from the NDP and Green Party leaders
who are fighting for the same left-of-
centre votes, while Liberal Leader Justin
Trudeau skipped the first televised elec-
tion debate.
The leaders clashed on the economy,
social programs and climate change as
they tried to articulate their positions at
the Thursday debate hosted by Ma-
clean’s/Citytv. But with a key player ab-
sent from the stage in Toronto, NDP
Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party
Leader Elizabeth May directed most of
their attacks at Mr. Scheer.
The only representation Mr. Trudeau
had at the debate was an empty lectern.
The Liberals announced last week that
he wouldn’t take part in the Maclean’s/
Citytv debate or a Munk debate on for-
eign policy − both of which he partici-
pated in during the 2015 election. The
Grits announced last week that Mr. Tru-
deau would only participate in the
French- and English-language debates
organized by the debate commission
and a third debate hosted by Quebec TV
channel TVA.
This was the first federal leaders’ de-
bate for Mr. Scheer and Mr. Singh. After
the formal leaders’ handshake at the
top, Ms. May, the political veteran on
stage, walked over to Mr. Trudeau’s
empty podium and mimed shaking his
hand.
Mr. Trudeau’s absence did not stop
Mr. Scheer from taking every opportu-
nity to compare his plans with Mr. Tru-
deau’s record while spending little time
critiquing the plans laid out by Mr.
Singh and Ms. May.
Mr. Scheer seized on Mr. Trudeau’s
broken 2015 promise to balance the
budget in four years, saying instead the
Liberals left Canadians with “massive
deficits as far as the eye can see.”
He said he would balance the budget
in five years by keeping the level of
spending set by the Liberals but con-
trolling it going forward. Mr. Scheer
gave a “firm commitment” that he
won’t cut programs and will continue
“increasing education and health-care

transfers.”

So far, none of the three leaders have

released a costed platform.

Mr. Singh called for more govern-

ment investments in things like hous-

ing, pharmacare and dental care be-

cause he said “its clear that families are

struggling right now.” He accused the

Liberals of making life less affordable

but warned “Mr. Scheer’s going to do

even worse.”

Mr. Singh said Mr. Scheer would end

up cutting services like other conserva-

tive governments in Ontario and Alber-

ta.

Ms. May said the Greens would also

try to balance the budget within five

years but said that target would take a

back seat to her other priorities. “We

need to massively expand services,” Ms.

May said, saying the Greens would im-

plement 100 per cent universal phar-

macare, free tuition and a guaranteed

income.

Early on, the debate quickly devolved

into incomprehensible cross talk be-

tween the three leaders. But Mr. Scheer

cut through the static, saying he’d

found one point of consensus.

“I think we can all agree that Justin

Trudeau is afraid of his record and

that’s why he’s not here today,” Mr.

Scheer said.

To which Ms. May replied: “we can

now sing kumbaya and keep going.”

The NDP and Greens agree on pol-

icies like pharmacare and a guaranteed

income but with the two parties com-

peting to win over progressive voters

disenchanted with Mr. Trudeau, Mr.

Singh and Ms. May spent much of the

debate highlighting where they dis-

agree on issues like greenhouse-gas

emissions reduction targets.

The leaders concluded the night de-

bating foreign policy, beginning with

Canada’s deteriorating relationship

with China. Mr. Singh said Mr. Trudeau

made a “mess of the China situation,”

adding his trip to India was also a disas-

ter.

Ms. May said that anyone who gives

an answer confidently on how to han-

dle China “isn’t telling the truth,” and

said U.S. President Donald Trump is

“poking China with a stick and creating

a trade war, and we are caught in the

middle.”

She said Canada’s number one con-

cern should be the safety of the two

Canadians detained.

Mr. Scheer said Mr. Trudeau has

failed to stand up to China, saying Cana-

da can “show resolve” and stand up for

itself.

Instead of attending the first leaders’

debate, Mr. Trudeau spent the day in

Western Canada.

Asked about his absence from the

debate, Mr. Trudeau told reporters in

Victoria that getting out across the

country and speaking with Canadians is

“at the core of what this election is all

about.”

At a rally in Edmonton Thursday eve-

ning, Mr. Trudeau pointed to the gov-

ernment’s investments in Alberta’s oil

and gas sector, particularly its purchase

of the $4.5-billion Trans Mountain pipe-

line and expansion project last year.

WITH A REPORT FROM MICHELLE ZILIO

May,Singh attackScheer

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socialprograms,climate

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Trudeaudeclinedaninvitation.FRANK GUNN/THE CANADIAN PRESS

MARIEKEWALSH
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