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The 2015 Canadian election has had its first debate watch an annotated archive of the debate here.

Stephen Harper’s record on the economy and the environment faced an all-out assault from three different fronts, but the long-dormant issue of Quebec separatism generated a heated exchange in the second half of Thursday’s televised leaders’ debate.

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NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and the Green party’s Elizabeth May set their sights on multiple aspects of the Conservative government’s program of tax cuts and balanced budget pledges.

Harper was repeatedly forced on to the defensive, “clarifying” economic statistics flung at him by his opponents.

But, he later stood back as Trudeau, running in third place in public opinion polls, turned his sights on Mulcair with attacks over the NDP leader’s pledge for special status for Quebec.