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“Mr. Scheer is saying he wouldn’t defend the Lavalin jobs,” Trudeau responded. “I defended the Lavalin jobs.”

For his part, Singh was rarely targeted by the other leaders. Polls suggest the NDP is on the verge of collapse in Quebec, with not a single safe seat among the 14 it holds in the province. Singh tried to position the NDP as the party with the strongest plan to protect the environment.

Photo by Sebastien St-Jean/AFP/Getty Images

Arguably the biggest controversy of the campaign to date, Trudeau’s blackface scandal barely registered during Wednesday’s debate. Outrage over the photos and video that have emerged of Trudeau dressed in blackface and brownface has been much more muted in Quebec than elsewhere in the country.

The Liberals are looking to make gains on their 40 seats in Quebec to head off losses elsewhere, if they are to keep their majority. The Conservatives, who hold 11 seats, have tried to appeal to nationalist voters in Quebec, in part by promising not to get involved in Bill 21, but the party has been hampered by Scheer’s commitment to a national energy corridor. In contrast, the Bloc Québécois has seen a resurgence during the campaign, after years of infighting that nearly saw the party disintegrate last year.

The Bloc Québécois is the only federal party to agree to every one of a list of demands Quebec Premier François Legault delivered to the federal leaders early in the campaign. Aside from insisting that Ottawa stay away from Bill 21, Legault has also demanded more control over Quebec’s immigration numbers and the power to give a language and values test to potential immigrants. His CAQ government also wants to impose Quebec’s language laws on businesses under federal jurisdiction, which the NDP supports, and a single tax return managed by Quebec, which the Conservatives have promised.

The NDP, meanwhile, is simply trying to hold on to some of its Quebec seats, eight years after the province catapulted the party to official Opposition status during the Orange Wave, under then-leader Jack Layton.

• Email: mforrest@postmedia.com | Twitter: MauraForrest