As is to be expected, the Maclean’s leaders debate turned into a forum for slogans and statistics, as each candidate battled it out for Canadian voters.

Here’s a list of seven claims made by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, and how well they stacked up to reality.

Claim 1: Harper avoided talking about a recession, and admitted that the economy had taken a dive because of the price of oil, but said that 80 per cent of the economy was growing.

Fact: The economy shrank five months in a row beginning in January. It’s not technically a recession until there’s been six full months of economic shrinkage, but that sure looks likely.

If you break Canada’s GDP down by industry, then about 28 per cent of Canada’s economy shrank between May 2015 to May 2014.

But the economy has taken a turn for the worse. Between April and May, 80 per cent of the economy shrank.

Claim 2: Harper claims that Canada has the lowest corporate taxes in the G7, which is why it has had the strongest job growth.

Fact: In the last few years, Canada has maintained the lowest tax rate at 15 per cent (along with Germany) in the G7, according to the Tax Policy Centre, which is partially funded by the Brookings Institute. This has been true for decades, no matter which party was in charge, with few exceptions.

According to the OECD, Canada’s employment rate actually fell by 0.2 per cent between 2014 and 2013, as it did in France. Employment in every other country went up.

But that’s beside the point — Canada’s corporate tax rates have always been the lowest while its job growth has fluctuated. It doesn’t make sense to apply causality.

Claim 3: Trudeau repeatedly made the claim that wages were falling.

Fact: According to Statistics Canada, wages fell by 0.6 per cent between May and April. They’re up 1.4 per cent from the same time the year before, but that is the lowest growth since October 2013.

Claim 4: May says that since Harper rose to power, carbon emissions have been rising.

“The cold, cruel reality is that under your watch, greenhouse gases have been rising, carbon pollution has been rising. As soon as our economy began to recover in 2009 — straight up line. Straight up,” May said.

Fact: It has not been a straight line. Emissions began declining around 2007, and hit their lowest point, according to Environment Canada, in 2009 — at the height of the recession. They grew slightly, then dipped again in 2013. Since 2013, they have grown slightly, and Environment Canada predicts they will continue to grow until 2020. They won’t meet the targets outlined in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord.

Claim 5: Trudeau says Mulcair has two minds on Energy East: in French, he’s opposed, in English, he supports it.

Fact: In a French interview with L’Actualité, Mulcair said: “Tu ne peux pas approuver Énergie Est.” This translates to “You cannot approve Energy East.”

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But in English, his views are more nuanced. In a 2014 editorial he wrote for the Star, he said that Energy East and other pipelines must undergo a rigorous environment assessment.

“Proposed pipeline projects, such as TransCanada’s Energy East or Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, simply will not obtain the social licence they require without having a rigorous review process in place to ensure environmental sustainability, community partnership and long-term prosperity of our economic development,” he wrote at the time.

Claim 6: May says Harper’s “no nominations” policy for the Senate actually is in violation of the constitution.

Fact: It’s unclear. Vancouver lawyer Aniz Alani is taking the government to Federal Court over Harper’s refusal to fill Senate vacancies.

"In my opinion, the Prime Minister can declare a moratorium on filling Senate vacancies no more validly than he can declare an end to the granting of Royal Assent to bills approved by Parliament or the use of French or English as an official language of Canada," Alani says in a letter to Justice Department lawyers.

Claim 7: Trudeau attacked Mulcair for supporting a simple majority for Quebec secession, which would only require a 50 per cent plus one vote to trigger secession negotiations.

“What’s your number?” Mulcair asked in a heated exchange.

“My number is nine,” Trudeau responded, in reference to the nine Supreme Court judges who oversaw the Clarity Act.

Fact: The Clarity Act says that the very question of what number would be sufficient must be decided after a secession vote, not before.

According to the Clarity Act: “The Supreme Court of Canada has stated that democracy means more than simple majority rule, that a clear majority in favour of secession would be required to create an obligation to negotiate secession, and that a qualitative evaluation is required to determine whether a clear majority in favour of secession exists in the circumstances.”

With files from the Canadian Press

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