OTTAWA—Canada’s federal party leaders take to the national stage for the only English-language debate of the 2019 campaign featuring the all of the main parties.

The Toronto Star and other media organizations are producing two debates this week — a French one will be held Thursday — and hope to reach more than 11 million Canadians.

The debates are critical opportunities for each leader to articulate their vision, critique the promises of their political rivals and (they hope) sway voters ahead of the Oct. 21 election — and just days before advance polls open over Thanksgiving weekend.

The topics up for debate will include affordability and economic insecurity; the environment and energy; Indigenous issues; leadership; and human rights and immigration.

Here’s a look at some of the challenges for each of the leaders:

Maxime Bernier, People’s Party

Must do: Aim for mainstream voters. Justify proposed curbs on immigration and multiculturalism and climate change inaction without sounding irrational.

Must avoid: Becoming his Twitter persona, after he called environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg “clearly mentally unstable,” denounced climate change as “lies, not science,” and attacked Justin Trudeau’s “extreme multiculturalism and cult of diversity.”

Yves-François Blanchet, Bloc Québécois

Must do: Stake a claim to being the only viable representative of Quebecers’ values and interests.

Must avoid: Getting caught in a five-on-one trap over his party’s separatist ambitions.

Elizabeth May, Green Party

Must do: Seize youth votes and the climate-change moment by positioning her party as the only one with the policy ambitions to tackle global warming.

Must avoid: Ad libbing in a way that muddles her party’s platform message.

Andrew Scheer, Conservative Party

Must do: Stress economic message. Shake off disappointing performance in the first French-language debate, look confident and prime ministerial while addressing suggestions he has not been forthright about his resumé.

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Must avoid: Reacting to taunts from the right by Bernier, and challenges — or a four-on-one pile-on — from the progressive leaders that bog him down in debate on abortion, gay rights and climate change.

Jagmeet Singh, New Democratic Party

Must do: Establish himself as the banner carrier for progressive votes. Challenge claims that Trudeau and May speak for “ordinary Canadians.” Demonstrate his party’s economic credibility.

Must avoid: Getting caught in a numbers game over his big-spending promises and where he’ll find the cash to cover his platform.

Justin Trudeau, Liberal Party

Must do: Rally progressive voters to the Liberal brand to avoid vote splits on the left that would allow Conservative victories. Defend the Liberal record, good and bad. Argue that the election is not a referendum on him but a choice about Canada’s future.

Must avoid: Appearance of arrogance, glibness and attempts at humour, which is typically when he puts his foot in his mouth.

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