Poilievre tones it down as Carney escapes second debate unscathed, strategists say

OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre exceeded expectations and presented a more toned-down demeanour in the second national leaders’ debate Thursday, while Liberal Leader Mark Carney escaped largely unscathed, strategists said.

Poilievre’s Conservatives entered Thursday’s English-language debate trailing in national polls, but expert observers remarked on his ability to clearly convey his policy ideas throughout the night.

“Poilievre started to show more of a rounded personality, especially near the end. I thought that was his strongest performance I’d seen,” said Barry McLoughlin, who worked on former NDP leader Jack Layton’s federal debate team and coached former prime minister Kim Campbell for her leadership debate.

“He came across as very well-informed on those policies when he was the subject of attack. I thought that yes, there was some mild exceeding of expectations by Mr. Poilievre. I think he gained support out of it.”

“At the end of the day, I think (Poilievre) was measured; he sounded like a prime minister,” said former Conservative staffer Andrea Sarkic, now lead public affairs counsellor at Compass Rose.

“Mr. Poilievre had to go in and not only be strong in his convictions, stay on message, but he really had to tone down some of the punchy rhetoric and show that strong, stable voice. And that was achieved.”

Sarkic said the debate allowed Canadians to see a more human side of Poilievre.

“He let us peer a little bit more behind the curtain,” she said.

And while Poilievre worked throughout the night to link Carney to the Liberal government’s past policies — and as NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet also took their share of jabs at the front-runner — Carney avoided major missteps as the campaign enters its final stretch.

Former Liberal strategist Susan Smith, now principal at Bluesky Strategy Group, said there were no major shakeups coming out of the debate.

“(Poilievre’s) tone was perhaps softer, delivering the same slogans he’s delivered throughout the campaign. And he had to do that. Angry Pierre showing up was not going to make people all that happy, yet he attempted more to stoke fear than hope in my view.”

McLoughlin said the challenge facing each of Carney’s rivals was to do something to eat into to his polling lead.

“They had to take him down, or at least force him into some kind of a mistake that could live in infamy. I don’t believe that happened,” he said.

“They needed to really undermine in some way his credibility, to make him not seem the leader that Canadians by 20 points or more feel is the strongest leader. I don’t believe they really accomplished that.”

“Carney improved, but perhaps what I would say was (he had) few bright breakout moments, despite having the most airtime,” Sarkic said.

“Carney had to go in and he had to take the jabs as he knew he would, being the centre of attention as the front-runner, and he had to hold the fort. I will argue his inexperience showed by not really defending the Liberal house as strongly as he perhaps could have.”

Singh — whose party could be fighting to retain official status in the House of Commons, with its national support polling in the single digits — was among the most vocal throughout the night and frequently interjected as Carney and Poilievre were speaking.

McLoughlin said Singh got back into the race by being aggressive.

“Normally you would say, ‘Don’t be that annoying interrupter.’ But I think what you saw with Mr. Singh was his last desperate chance to become the kind of player that the NDP needs to be in this race,” he said.

“He wasn’t necessarily rude, but he was quite aggressive tonight. We haven’t seen a lot of the aggressiveness of Mr. Singh in this campaign. And yet, I’m not convinced it really hurt him very much.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2025.