Party leaders return to campaigning after first election debate

While Liberal leader Justin Trudeau sat this one out, the Conservatives, NDP, and Greens spent the night debating everything from Indigenous issues to pharamacare.

While the three parties did not have much to agree on, they all seemed to condemn Trudeau’s decision not to attend.

Trudeau passed on the Maclean’s/CityTv debate to hold a rally in Edmonton.

Opposition leaders took the opportunity to attack Trudeau’s economic record. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer criticized him for running up massive deficits.

Green party Leader Elizabeth May said no party in this election, other than hers, has accepted the emission-reduction targets required to limit global warming.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh promised to bring universal pharmacare within a year and to fund it by closing offshore tax havens and increasing taxes on the “super” rich.

May is heading west to British Columbia, stopping for an event for husband and local candidate John Kidder. Singh will end the day with a pizza party at the Toronto home of Olivia Chow – the widow of the party’s former leader Jack Layton. Scheer is making an announcement in Mississauga today.