test Friday Focus: Pierre Poilievre's prime ministerial debate performance and Donald Trump's unconstrained chaos - Munk Debates

Friday Focus: Pierre Poilievre’s prime ministerial debate performance and Donald Trump’s unconstrained chaos

April 18, 2025
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Friday Focus: Pierre Poilievre’s prime ministerial debate performance and Donald Trump’s unconstrained chaos

Rudyard and Janice open the show with last night’s Canadian English language leaders’ debate. Rudyard thinks that Pierre Pollievre looked prime ministerial for the first time in this campaign, while Mark Carney showed a calmness and dexterity for someone with limited political experience. Bottom line: it was a good night for both leaders but it won’t move the needle much. Furthermore, it’s past time to rethink how the leaders’ debate commission conducts election debates which fail to test leaders to the benefit of undecided voters. In the second half of the show Rudyard and Janice talk about Trump’s very combative and controversial week: defying the courts and America’s commitment to due process for illegal immigrants, a fight with Harvard University which could have broad implications on universities across the US, and his public condemnation of Jerome Powell, the chair of the US federal reserve, because he doesn’t like the bank’s restrictive rates and the inflationary threat they represent. Trump’s willingness to engage in public battles and ignore basic laws signal an unconstrained chaos with no end in sight.

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