MONTREAL - The CAQ and Liberal leaders locked horns in a one-hour televised debate Tuesday that saw both candidates repeatedly accuse each other of being unreliable.

The topics discussed were: governance, social policy, the economy and the national question.

The challenger Francois Legault began by attempting to score points against Premier Charest with a heated exchange over corruption.

Legault brought up the case of former minister Nathalie Normandeau who accepted tickets from a show by a promoter.

Charest tossed back a newly-issued charge stating that CAQ star candidate Jacques Duchesneau fudged campaign donation numbers while running for Mayor of Montreal.

The two charged each other of attacking each other with baseless accusations.

The subject then moved onto health, in which Charest zeroed in on a Legault’s promises of being able to supply a family doctor for every clan, which he said was quite unrealistic.

The debate then moved onto Legault’s promise to raise teachers’ salaries by 10 to 30 percent, which Charest said was logistically impossible because other professions, such as nurses would not stand idly by while the collective agreements signed with 500,000 Quebec employees were reopened without any of the new money coming to them.

Charest seemed to attempt to feed Legault’s anger, taunting the CAQ leader with repeated attacks on his reliability, and quick jabs against Leagult’s statements: “first you say that youth are lazy and women don’t’ work for money and now this about Hydro Quebec,” said Charest.

In spite of the moderator’s request not to get bogged down into statistics and budgetary numbers, the two then became embroiled in a discussion over numbers, including an exchange of statistics on the question of whether Quebec had improved financially in recent year or not.

Charest’s finest moment took place when he replied to Legault’s accusations of failing to invest enough of the Caisse de depot’s money into Quebec. Charest then replied by accusing Legault of watching idly by as his then-party, the Parti Quebecois, allowed Quebec-based Provigo to get eaten up by Ontario-based Loblaw’s.

Legault appeared to be caught slightly flatfooted and said he disagreed with the Provigo deal but Charest insisted he should have quit if he felt that way.

The final segment was devoted to Quebec’s national identity and Charest kicked off by accusing Legault of claiming to be a fiscal conservative while promising almost $4 billion in new spending. He likened this to Legault’s flip-flop on the separatism question.

Legault described himself as a strong nationalist ready to fight for Quebec, in the style of former Premier Jean Lesage.

Charest then made reference to several deals he successfully negotiated with Ottawa.

The debate was seen as considerably more civil than that of the evening prior which saw Charest and PQ leader Pauline Marois shouting at each other for much of the debate.

Suspicions that the relatively-new leader Legault wouldn't be able to stand up to the polished, wily Charest appeared groundless as Legault fared well although at times appeared to be close to losing his temper.

The two shook hands with some degree of joviality at the end and both then took separate questions from journalists.

Charest said that he was sorry there would be no more debates and joked that he would be forced to debate his wife. He also deadpanned that the debate showcased the pleasant side of his personality.

Legault made a point in his post-debate press conference of once again clarifying his position on the Loblaw purchase of Provigo.

Legault will return to debate Marois tomorrow night under a similar structure.