All sights on Carney in round 2 of leaders' debate battle on Thursday

MONTREAL — Leaders of the Conservative party, NDP and Bloc Québécois are expected to spend Thursday evening’s English-language debate trying to steal support from Liberal leader Mark Carney, who appeared to emerge relatively unscathed from Wednesday’s French face-off. Carney , Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre , Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh are set to take the stage at 7 p.m. eastern Thursday evening to for the second and final debate before voting day on April 28. Debate moderator Steve Paikin, host for Ontario public broadcaster TVO, will question leaders on affordability and the cost of living, energy and climate, leading in a crisis, public safety and security, as well as tariffs and threats to Canada. A Leger/Postmedia poll published earlier this week suggested the Carney Liberals still hold a five point lead over Poilievre’s Conservatives despite a slight tightening of the race over the last week. That means Carney will most likely be the target of all other leaders tonight as they hope to wean voters’ support from the Liberals less than two weeks before Canadians head to the polls. Once again, the debate occurs before any of the three federal parties published their costed campaign platforms. That decision was panned as “totally irresponsible” by French debate moderator Patrice Roy. Wednesday evening, Carney played defence against NDP, Bloc Québécois and Conservative leaders during a French-language debate that alternated between jabs and jokes, but competed with the Montreal Canadiens for francophones’ attention. National Post cnardi@postmedia.com

• Jabs and jokes as leaders fight each other for Francophones' vote during first debate
• As it happened: Mark Carney attacked from all sides in French leaders' debate

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