At Issue panel weighs in on Munk foreign policy debate

The National's At Issue panel weighed in on Monday's Munk foreign policy debate between the party leaders and how each of the candidates fared.

Postmedia/National Post columnist Andrew Coyne said the event showed the three main party leaders — Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau — "on the top of their game."

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Coyne also praised the format that "allowed them to be heard," while noting the bit of feedback from the live and mostly respectful audience was sometimes useful.

"I was proud of our democracy tonight," Coyne said. "I think that people would have learned more why the leaders hold the positions for the reason they do today, and that was a great addition to the democratic arsenal."

Toronto Star national affairs columnist Chantal Hébert called it the "best debate and certainly the most bearable to listen to," although she added it didn't live up to its billing as a bilingual format.  

Hébert said she felt Trudeau was "fairly effective" in an exchange with Harper on Bill C-24 and the revocation of citizenship of those convicted of terrorism-related offences — an issue the Conservative view as a strong point for their leader. 

"Why it matters that he did well in that exchange is that there are scores of voters who come from other areas of the world who do have dual citizenship who will be listening to that concept of two-tiered citizenship and be sensitive to that argument," she said.

Pollster Bruce Anderson of Abacus Data agreed it was "the best debate by quite a bit."

"I thought all three leaders came with their arguments ready to deliver to Canadians, and for the most part, especially Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Harper, I would say, delivered them pretty well," Anderson said. 

"It was forward-looking and it was values-based and it was a nice mix of emotion and fact-based argument."

Watch the full segment above, and find more stories and features from The National here.