Candidates running in the federal riding of Saint-Laurent faced off Wednesday in front of students at Vanier College.
For two of the five candidates running in the upcoming byelection, it was their first debate in the political sphere.
“Obviously I feel I can always improve, but I feel I got my message across,” said Emmanuella Lambropoulos of the Liberals, a 26-year-old high school teacher who is a newcomer and surprise win for candidacy.
Mathieu Auclair, who is running for the NDP, is also a newcomer.
“There are a lot of young families in the riding that need to be represented in parliament and there are not a lot of youth MPs,” he said.
Also taking questions on immigration, education and fiscal politics were Jimmy Yu of the Conservatives,William Fayad of the Bloc Quebecois and Daniel Green for the Green Party.
“Often the Green Party is excluded from debates, so I'm happy that Vanier had the democratic vision to include us,” said Green.
The Saint-Laurent riding is a Liberal stronghold, and the party's young candidate took tough questions from her opponents on why longtime Saint-Laurent Mayor Alan de Sousa wasn't allowed to run – though she didn’t give any answers.
“For me, it was a very open process. I was given the same opportunity that the other candidates were given and that's literally all that I know,” she said.
They also grilled her on electoral reform and what they called a broken promise from the prime minister.
“I think it was a promise to consult Canadians,” she said. When a reporter challenged her, saying it was a campaign promise to reform the electoral system, she repeated, “I think it was a promise to look into it.”
The Saint-Laurent byelection will be held on April 3.
