Canada’s first-ever foreign policy debate put the three main federal leaders under the microscope over the messy, interconnected world of international affairs — and it was Trudeau who offered up a particularly strong performance, analysts say.

“Trudeau is much better than any picture that’s been painted of him,” said Gar Pardy, former head of Canadian consular affairs. “He added a level of passion to what was going on.”

The session, hosted by Munk Debates, marked the first time Canadian federal leaders had come together for a discussion focused solely on foreign policy. The bilingual debate kicked off with a discussion on Syrian refugees and the fight against ISIS, before moving on to tackle U.S-Canada relations, climate change, international trade and the Arctic.

With a decade of policy-making under his belt, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was tasked with fending off attacks from his NDP and Liberal counterparts, who spent a good chunk of time also attacking each other.

While all three leaders succeeded in landing zingers on their opponents throughout the course of the debate, their styles seemed more distinctive than in the three previous debates.

“The demeanours were fascinating,” said Errol Mendes, former director of the Human Rights Research Centre at the University of Ottawa and a former advisor to the UN. “Trudeau wanted to show his passion for his position, Mulcair his fierce determination to not lose the progressive throne and Harper for his dogged determination for sticking to his security, anti-terrorism agenda.”

Mendes pointed to an exchange in which Mulcair attacked Trudeau’s father’s legacy on protecting Canadians’ civil rights.

“I am incredibly proud to be Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s son,” Trudeau retorted, launching into a speech about his pride in his father’s accomplishments during his time in office. “[He] wouldn’t want us to be focused on the battles of the past.”

Mendes also pointed to Trudeau’s strongly-worded exchange with Harper as an example of the “passionate but risky” style he brought to the debate.

Harper was defending C-24, his government’s controversial bill allowing for Canadians with dual citizenship to be stripped of their Canadian citizenship if convicted of terror offences, when Trudeau interrupted him to argue that “a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.”

Mulcair, however, seemed to struggle to muster the fire he has become known for in question period.

“Mulcair I think has got a problem here,” Pardy said, pointing to the NDP leader’s performance in past debates as well as this one as an indication he is having trouble adapting his adversarial style to the debate format.

“Trudeau’s delivery was much stronger,” agreed Dave Perry, senior analyst with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

Not surprisingly, some Tories were not so impressed.

“Everyone in our house kept calling him the Energizer Bunny,” said Susan Elliot, a former campaign manager for deposed Alberta premier Allison Redford and a former PC Party national director.

Elliot says Trudeau really had to show Canadians that he was capable of mustering the gravitas expected of leaders on the world stage and said several of his answers were too simplistic to do that.

“At no point did he ever say what it was that he would do,” she said, pointing to an exchange between Harper and Trudeau on Russian aggression in which Trudeau criticized Harper for “talking loudly” and hoping Russia would listen.

“I thought Trudeau had to look more prime ministerial and he didn’t do that.”

Perry says there was little in the way of new information offered up to Canadians in the debate but that the format still lent itself to greater discussion among the leaders and allowed them to more fully explain their views on foreign policy than we’ve seen in past debates.

Pardy agreed, saying all three leaders demonstrated a mastery of the topic that hasn’t previously been made clear.

Despite missing topics like rising tensions with China, Pardy still called the debate “exceptional.”

“Of all the debates I’ve seen over the years, I think this one was the best,” he said.